The writing on the wall
by FoxtrotTango543
Summary: During a training exercise, Snotlout says some horrible things about Toothless' disability, leaving the other dragon riders (and their dragons) shocked. Angry at Snotlout for what he had the nerve to say to and about him, Toothless displays a hidden ability that shocks them even more.
1. Realizing intelligence

Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, and knowing my luck, I probably never will. All rights go to the author of the books, Cressida Cowell and the company that made the much-loved films and series, Dreamworks. This fanfiction is set in the Dragons: Riders of Berk series.

A/N: Just to clear things up to do with the story you're about to read, **bold speech** is when the dragons are talking, _italics_ are for when the humans are thinking, and _**bold italics**_ are when the dragons are thinking. The

UNDERLINED WORDS IN ALL CAPS THAT ARE ALIGNED IN THE CENTRE

are for what Toothless will later show them. (I'm hoping I haven't spoiled my own fanfic here.) Anyways, I hope you enjoy this, folks! Please R&R!

* * *

It was a normal day over at Berk's dragon training academy. Fishlegs was reading and re-reading the Book of Dragons for mistakes, Snotlout was trying (too hard) to look tough in front of Astrid, who was ignoring him, and the twins were fighting. Hiccup was . . . nowhere to be found, something that Astrid was quick to point out. This wasn't like the Hiccup she knew.

"Where's Hiccup and Toothless?" Astrid asked, squinting a little as she searched the Berk skies for a Night Fury. "Shouldn't they be here by now?"

"It's probably nothing serious," Fishlegs dismissed, but in reality he'd already begun panicking when Astrid asked where Hiccup and Toothless were. Just then, an oh-so-familiar Night Fury made his entrance, along with Hiccup, who was holding some charcoal, a piece of paper and wearing a helmet. He also had another helmet under his arm.

"Why are you wearing a helmet?" everyone asked, out of curiosity. Hiccup had never been known for wearing a helmet. In fact, he was more comfortable without a helmet. What could have happened that made him want to wear one now?

"And why do you need two of them, exactly? It's not like you have two heads," Ruffnut pointed out. Living with Tuffnut and his crazy antics made her slowly become sceptical to new ideas, and her memories of Hiccup's failed inventions (before he proved himself as a Viking) hadn't helped to combat that ideology. "Wow, Tuff. And I thought we did dumb things."

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Tuffnut agreed.

"It's for a training exercise I thought up," Hiccup explained vaguely, as he tore horizontal strips off the paper and wrote names on them with the charcoal. "You've been bonding with your dragon, which is great, but you will have to get used to riding a dragon that isn't your own. What if your dragon is captured and you need to mount a rescue? Or you and your dragon are split up and you are too far away from them to search for each other by foot or use a dragon call?"

"Yeah, yeah, Hiccup, you've made your point. What are we doing?" Snotlout whined, pouting slightly. "Tell me now before I get bored and tell Hookfang to set this place on fire." His tone reminded Hiccup of a small child acting big, and if it wasn't Snotlout talking, Hiccup just knew that he'd be snickering by now.

"Each of these strips of paper has the name of either a human and a dragon on it, or in Barf and Belch's case, half a dragon. The humans and dragons are split up and placed inside a helmet, I'll pick a name from each helmet, and that's how you find out which dragon you'll be partnered with for today," Hiccup explained. "I still have to sort the names, though. Hold on."

Hiccup meticulously sorted the names into two piles, and put a pile into each helmet. Closing his eyes, he selected the names, and after some time, here was the final layout: Ruffnut would be riding Hookfang, Stormfly was with Tuffnut, Hiccup was with Meatlug, Astrid and Fishlegs would be riding Barf and Belch (Astrid with Barf, Fishlegs with Belch), while Snotlout would be partnered with Toothless for the day.

"That's it for sorting names," Hiccup concluded. "Any questions?"

"Yeah," Snotlout said. "Why am I the one with the cripple? Can I swap?"

"How dare you!" Hiccup yelled, being the first to stand up for Toothless. "Don't you EVER talk about Toothless like that!"

"That dragon's smarter in one claw than you are in the whole of your body!" Astrid defended hotly. She attempted to hurl her axe at Snotlout's head, but was restrained by Hiccup, who was already thinking the worst of himself for restraining his girlfriend when he felt the same way. Toothless was his best friend, and, admittedly, his first real friend too. He shouldn't be stopping Astrid from beating up Snotlout; if anything, he should be helping her. "I don't avoid you because 'we have too much in common' or because I've known you for too long to see you as anything other than a friend. I avoid you because you're a huge jerk and you never change!"

The humans weren't the only ones in the arena who had been angered. Their dragons erupted into enraged screeches and growls, not believing what their reptilian ears were hearing. **"How dare he say something like that?"** Stormfly raged.

 **"He has no right to even** _ **think**_ **that, let alone say it with that oversized, overused mouth of his!"** Meatlug ranted with a red-hot fury , then turned to Toothless with the more comforting tone that had made her known as the mother of the group. **"Don't listen to him, Toothless. I know you never do that anyway, but right now you really shouldn't listen to him."**

 **"I know the twins are often called muttonheads, troublemakers and idiots by the other humans on Berk, but I'd bet my lunch today that even they know that what Snotlout said crossed the line,"** Barf growled.

 **"Crossed the line? Please. Snotlout just crossed every line ever made with what he said!"** Belch seethed. **"Toothless is our leader, and I don't care that he's missing a tailfin! At least he's not missing his brain, like Snotface over here!"**

 **"I'm so sorry, Toothless,"** Hookfang apologized, mortified at his human's actions. Hookfang, despite his headstrong and proud nature, was extremely easy to embarrass, often saying sorry on behalf of his errant rider as if he had to make up for all the stupid things his rider did on a daily basis. (He's going to be doing that for a long time at the rate Snotlout's going.)

"See? Even my dragon agrees with me," Snotlout bragged, as Hookfang covered his head with his wings in shame, but unfurled them when he realized that he was far too big to hide anywhere that wasn't a stable, and even that was a stretch.

 **"NO, I DON'T! WHAT ARE YOUR BRAINS MADE OUT OF, SNOTLOUT? ROTTEN FISH BONES?! SHUT UP!"** Hookfang howled, using his voice (or roars, depending on whether you were a dragon or a human) to cover up his mortification. **_This is the most embarrassing day of my life,_** he thought sadly. _**Toothless is my friend, and I'm trying to prove that I'm not exactly like my rider. This just makes everything so much worse.**_

"Snotlout, why would you say that?" Fishlegs protested, torn between doing what he thought was right and keeping the peace between his friends. "Do you have any idea how rude that is? Besides, it's just a training exercise in case of an emergency. You'll get a different dragon to work with the next time we do this."

"I hope I do," Snotlout sneered. "I need a strong dragon that can fly on its own, not this useless thing." Snotlout pointed straight at Toothless when he said this, as if he doubted Hiccup knew which dragon he meant. This was the last straw for Toothless, who finally spoke. He didn't care that Snotlout wouldn't understand, but he didn't want to just sit there as he was insulted. That was a sign of weakness in the dragon world.

 **"I wasn't planning on being paired with the class muttonhead, but that's life for you,"** Toothless growled, rolling his eyes as the other dragons cheered. However, their jubilation was doomed to be short-lived. Snotlout, despite having no clue what Toothless had said about him, had thought Toothless' insult was a threat, and was now itching for a fight. (Typical Snotlout behaviour.)

"Come on, Toothless, fight me!" Snotlout grunted, jumping up like a dog and aiming a few jabs at Toothless' snout, which missed. (Thor knows Snotlout couldn't land a punch to save his life.) "Come on, you ground-bound sack of scales. Those grunts had to mean something." Then, Snotlout smirked as he went in for the kill. "Unless you're just a weak dragon whose roar is worse than its flame because it can't fly."

The other dragons roared with disgust at the use of the phrase ground-bound, and that's when the forgiving, happy-go-lucky, trusting part of Toothless snapped. No, it hadn't snapped, it was broken, and no amount of repairs and apologies would restore it to what it was before. He knew he was never going to forgive the black-haired boy for what he'd done to Hiccup before they'd even met, but calling him cripple was the straw that broke the dragon's back. If he was going to run his mouth, he might as well do it somewhere on Berk where bragging wasn't just allowed, but encouraged. Sighing, he picked up Snotlout by the back of his tunic and held him high enough above the ground for him to not even come close to scraping the floor.

 **"This is embarrassing for both of us, so I'll get it over and done with,"** Toothless muttered to Snotlout, so quietly that not even dragon ears could hear it. Then, he walked out of the arena through the gate, with the other humans and dragons staring at his retreating form.

* * *

Spitelout Jorgenson had been having a perfectly normal day before Toothless showed up in the Great Hall. He'd been showing off and bludgeoning in his own head as part of a crazy game he'd thought up as a teenager and simply never grew out of. The aim of the game was simple: each player hit themselves with a bludgeon they'd brought themselves in turn until they passed out from concussion, and the last man standing got a pint of ale from each of the players the next day. (For this game to work, there had to be someone not taking part to see who the real winner was, AKA, a referee.) He was about to start the game with a mouthful of trash talk (as per usual) when he felt the Great Hall fall silent, something that rarely happened on Berk. Spitelout and the other Vikings could only watch, slack-jawed with disbelief, as the Night Fury carrying his son in its jaws approached him, spat his son out like a bad piece of fish in front of what felt like everyone on Berk, and silently left the way he came in.

"Hi, dad," Snotlout muttered, smiling nervously. Snotlout's nervous smirk and the circumstances behind how he got into the Great Hall prompted the laughter of one tipsy villager, and then another, and another, until it seemed that everyone in the Great Hall, with the exception of his father, was howling with laughter at Snotlout's misfortune, while his father looked on with the sort of steely glare that had "What did you do?" written all over it. (As a parent, you get good at that look.)

"Well?" Spitelout demanded, angry at the interruption. "Why were you dropped off here by Hiccup's dragon?" Spitelout's stubborn nature (like most of the older Vikings) meant he absolutely refused to use words like Night Fury, Gronckle, Nadder or Monstrous Nightmare because that made it look like he wanted to be associated with dragons and learn about them like the teenagers. The same rule was used with their names.

"You see, Dad . . . " Snotlout started, then trailed off. His dad seemed to be rather sceptical of Snotlout's version of events (and with good reason, as Snotlout had a track record of lying to adults), so he'd have to come up with the perfect story that was true (or, at least, looked true). "You won't believe me when I tell you . . . "

* * *

Toothless made his way back into the arena, as all eyes seemed to be trained on him. He didn't bow his head like he didn't want to be noticed, nor did he pretend everything was right with the world like Hiccup did after he'd had an argument with someone. (Nobody would believe him if he tried the latter option, anyway, so why bother?) He simply took his place in the arena, and motioned to Hiccup to continue where he'd left off.

"Toothless!" Hiccup exclaimed, half-surprised that Toothless was back, half-angry for not explaining his disappearance thoroughly enough for the likes of a very stressed-out Hiccup. "Where have you been and what took you so long? You had me worried, bud!" Toothless nuzzled Hiccup affectionately, and joined the other dragons, who bombarded him with questions as soon as he was close enough to hear them.

 **"Why did you leave with Snotlout?"** Stormfly asked.

 **"Is he dead?"** Barf and Belch prayed. **"Please say he's dead! He deserves it!"**

 **"That is a horrible thing to say, you two, even if it is Snotlout!"** Meatlug scolded, before her curiosity took over and she asked, **"Anyway, where did you take him?"**

 **"He's all right, isn't he? Not hurt or anything?"** Hookfang worried. Idiot or not, Hookfang still cared about Snotlout and didn't want to see him come to harm in any way. (Thor knows he'd never forgive himself if he was.)

 **"One question at a time!"** Toothless roared, making the other dragons step back. **"Rest assured that Snotface is still alive, and the only thing that's been hurt is his sense of pride."**

The other dragons laughed, but at the same time they were extremely confused. It was like the questions asked by Stormfly and Meatlug were ignored completely, and those were the questions everyone wanted answered.

"Enough!" Hiccup shouted, finally getting everyone's attention on him. "Now Toothless has finally shown up, let's get on with-"

"I've got a bone to pick with you, dragon!" Spitelout hollered, bursting to the arena with Snotlout in tow. The younger Jorgenson seemed to have ditched the sheepish look on his face for the smug, you're-in-trouble grin he always had. "Why'd you drag my son all the way through the village and drop him off at the Great Hall like he was some delivery to be made? Do you have any idea how shameful that was? You had no right and no reason to do so! Who do you think you are, dragon?"

 **"No way,"** Barf muttered to Belch, **"Toothless literally dumped Snotlout with his father! And in the Great Hall, too! In front of the other Vikings! Toothless must be as crazy as his human to do something like that!"**

 **"Seems to have backfired, though,"** Belch whispered. **"Spitelout believes Snotlout's every word, even though he's in the wrong. I hate to say this, but I don't particularly want to take his place right now."**

 **"I don't care,"** Hookfang sniggered, immensely proud of Toothless. **"This should have happened to Snotlout ages ago. Hooray for Toothless for doing what I never could!"**

"Oh, Toothless, I could ask you the same question," Hiccup mused, almost as if he was disappointed with Toothless for his judgement. "You didn't have to take him out of the arena and search for his dad, for Thor's sake! Just bring him to me if he's bothering you!"

"Don't know why you bother with tellin' 'im that, Hiccup," Spitelout huffed. "I'm willin' ta bet that he doesn't understand a word you or anyone else says. None of 'em do. He's only staying with ya 'cause you've got food for him ta eat. Besides, without ya, he can't fly, so he has to stay."

Toothless walked up to him, tentatively. He didn't trust that human as far as he could throw him, which was pretty far, considering that Night Furies weren't the biggest of dragons. So he circled the father/son duo, tilting his head from side to side occasionally. He was looking them up and down and side to side. Eventually, he turned away from them and walked over to the wall. **_I didn't think I'd ever have to do this in my life, but I must get the message through somehow,_** Toothless thought. _**Well, here goes nothing, I guess.**_ As he worked, some of the humans gasped and their eyes widened, even going as far as to pinch themselves to see if they were dreaming. (The last one was what the twins did.)

"This is incredible," Hiccup breathed.

"Odin's ghost!" Fishlegs exclaimed quietly, scared that if he said it any louder, Toothless would stop and everything would go back to normal.

"Who taught him that?" Astrid shrieked.

The others watched on in shock as Toothless did what they thought was impossible for a dragon - writing. Toothless was burning words into the walls of the arena for them to read. And the words he wrote made the riders feel sick to their stomachs.

GROUND-BOUND SACK OF SCALES.

FIGHT ME!

Hiccup started wandering around the arena, and as he accidentally led the other dragon riders around the arena in the world's most depressing conga line/tour, he looked at all the other words Toothless had written, he almost wanted to cry for the sweet, gentle, intelligent creature he knew. Nobody should have to hear what Toothless had heard today, and just because they're a dragon doesn't mean they aren't offended or they don't understand. They are, and they do, and the proof was there for all to see.

I NEED A STRONG DRAGON THAT CAN FLY ON ITS OWN, NOT THIS USELESS THING.

JUST A WEAK DRAGON.

ITS ROAR IS WORSE THAN ITS FLAME.

CAN I SWAP?

The last message was the worst. Etched directly above the gate so all could see, Hiccup felt tears well up and threaten to roll down his cheeks as he clapped a hand over his mouth in shock. It was only one word, but it was the word that got everyone so angry and so worked up in the first place. Everything Snotlout had said after that just added fuel to the fire.

CRIPPLE.

It was written in big letters, bigger than the lettering used for all the other messages Toothless had written so far, above the gate that everyone used to enter and leave the arena, so everybody could see it. Another thing everyone else could see was the colour draining from Snotlout's once-smug face, as Spitelout's jaw literally dropped. Then, Toothless stopped writing on the wall of the arena so he could write on the floor. Shooing everyone to the edges of the arena, Toothless wrote a simple, but powerful message that would stay with them for the rest of their lives. As he burned the words into the floor and their minds, the humans, as if acting on instinct, read aloud what Toothless was writing as he wrote it, their voices becoming one as what Hiccup had always known, and what Toothless was trying to tell them all this time was finally realized.

I CAN UNDERSTAND YOU.

Snotlout, awed and humbled at the intelligence that Toothless had shown, started stuttering fearfully as he realized that what he'd said was about to be his downfall in the worst way. "Toothless," Snotlout whimpered, "I d-didn't know th-that you could - you know-" Snotlout trailed off, as Spitelout laid a hand on his son's shoulder and tightened it, which made him realize that he was in deep trouble once he got home. Snotlout broke out in a cold sweat and his skin paled.

"I'm sorry to have bothered ya," Spitelout eventually forced himself to say, reddening slightly as he realized how badly he'd got this wrong. "According to my son's account of things, Toothless-" this word was especially forced, as this was the first time Spitelout had ever used any dragon's name, "tried to attack him for no reason and dragged him over to me, but now I see who's really at fault. Hiccup, Snotlout won't be coming back to this lesson until much later, I'll need to talk to him. Come on, boyo. Take -er- Hookfang with you." Clapping Snotlout on the back to get him moving, the pair left the arena with none of the noise, aggression and smugness they'd entered with. It wasn't until the Jorgensons were out of sight and earshot (or at least human earshot, as the dragons could clearly hear Spitelout scolding his son and it was music to their scaly ears) that Hiccup had to deal with a lot of questions.

"Who taught Toothless to write?" Astrid shrieked, holding Hiccup by his shoulders and shaking him. Hard.

"If Toothless can learn how to do it, does that mean we could have an entire island of dragons that can read and write?" Fishlegs theorized excitedly. "Hiccup, this is a dragon training breakthrough! This _must_ be noted in the Book of Dragons!"

"Can we borrow him and get him to write rude messages everywhere?" the twins chorused, grinning widely at the thought of pranking people with the help of a dragon that can read. After all, someone would obviously suspect them, but they'd never in a million years suspect _Toothless_ of being behind it. It was genius!

"Calm down, people, calm down!" Hiccup shouted, causing everyone to fall silent. "Astrid, I don't know where Toothless learned how to read and write because I'm not the one who taught him. Fishlegs, the only way you could have an island full of literate dragons is if they are taught, and even then they have to be willing to learn. And NO, you can't borrow Toothless or any other dragon you can find just to prank people! Do you have any idea how irresponsible that is?"

The room fell silent, until Astrid raised a question that got them all thinking. "Wait a minute. If you didn't teach him to do that, who did?" Slowly, everyone turned to Toothless, expecting him to write an answer for them. Toothless paced over to Fishlegs, then suddenly grabbed the Book of Dragons in his jaws and dropped it at Hiccup's feet like a dog.

Tuffnut, like everyone else in the room, was confused, and he got angry with Toothless. "Toothless, what does the Book of Dragons have to do with anything?" Toothless snorted, and pointed to the book with one of his claws, almost like a human would. "I know it's there, T, now go put it back. We don't need it."

"Maybe he's trying to tell us something," Hiccup mumbled, then gasped. "Toothless, did you learn how to read from the Book of Dragons? Is that why you gave it to me?" Satisfied that not all humans were as thick-skulled as Tuffnut, Toothless nodded happily, and then stiffened up with surprise when Hiccup ran over and hugged him.

"Toothless, you clever, clever dragon!" Hiccup shouted happily, as his grip around Toothless' neck became tighter. "This way, I can finally communicate with you, and prove that dragons are capable of understanding us! Thank you, Toothless, thank you!"

Toothless smiled and nuzzled his human, making him laugh. So long as Hiccup was happy, he was happy. For Toothless, the feeling was short-lived, as he soon realized that he was being watched by the other dragons. Stormfly motioned for him to go to them. Nervously, he approached them and looked them all in the eye. For a while, nobody spoke. Stormfly broke the silence by saying, **"Is it true? Is what they're saying true?"**

Toothless fidgeted under Stormfly's gaze as he tried to find an answer. **"Hiccup sometimes reads the Book of Dragons to me. I must have picked it up from there. I don't think he minded me seeing it, to be honest. He probably thought I was looking at the pictures of dragons and not the words."**

 **"You learned to read and write from the Book of Dragons alone?"** Meatlug asked, as the other dragons closed in on Toothless, forming a circle that he couldn't escape from. Toothless began going through the two-minute panic drill when this happened. Usually, when he was surrounded by a group of other dragons, they got angry and began firing at him, and he had no choice but to fire back. He was about to fire at them in self-defence when they suddenly chorused:

 **"THAT IS SO COOL!"**

Toothless was thrown off guard by their response, but were immensely relieved that they hadn't done something much worse to him by now. **"Um, really? You're all right with it?"** he asked, not believing what he was hearing.

 **"Of course!"** Stormfly assured. **"I can't believe you learned how to read and write so quickly!"**

 **"I agree,"** Meatlug chimed in. **"Now the humans know that we understand them, and that we're not as dumb as Spitelout said we are."** Then her voice took on an uncharacteristically mischievous tone. **"Besides, did any of you see the look on Snotlout's face when he realized he was done for? Priceless. I know it didn't seem funny when everyone was staring at what you'd written, but when you look back on it all, those are the moments you remember until the day you die."**

 **"Yeah,"** Barf grinned. **"How did you throw Snotlout into the Great Hall, anyway? Isn't it always full of people?"**

 **"Oh, it's easy,"** Toothless answered dryly. **"You grab him by the back of his tunic, pick him up, walk to the Great Hall and leave Snotlout with his dad. And of course it's full of people. You really think it's called the Great Hall for nothing?"** Barf looked away from Toothless bashfully, while Belch fixed Toothless with a glare. However, they were interrupted by Hiccup.

"All right, people, just because Snotlout's gone doesn't mean we can't do the lesson," Hiccup shouted. "Get back to the dragon you were assigned to for the day."

"Then what do _I_ do?" Ruffnut complained, bringing up a valid point. "You partnered me with Hookfang, and now he's gone."

"You'll have to go with Toothless, then," Hiccup answered. "Now Snotlout's gone, he doesn't have a partner for today either."

"Sweet," Ruffnut said, grinning. "Snotlout doesn't know what he's missing with Toothless."

"Thanks, Ruffnut," Hiccup said, smiling at the first person who'd complimented Toothless today. He felt glad and partly relieved when people defended his dragon, but compliments were always so much better. It had been a long day, after all. "Now, let me show you how to work Toothless' prosthetic . . . "

* * *

The lesson was coming to a close, and everyone had done better than what Hiccup expected, including himself. Having a Gronckle was easier than he expected, and he now understood why Fishlegs talked about Meatlug's hovering so much; it was actually really relaxing, and he felt himself dozing off once or twice. Despite how fun the lesson was turning out to be, he had to draw the lesson to a close. "Right, guys, we'll have to stop there for now," Hiccup called, as groans echoed round the now graffitied walls of the arena.

"Do we have to?" Tuffnut moaned, hugging Stormfly. "You have no idea how cool Stormfly's spines are! Stormfly, spine shot!"

 **"Here we go again,"** Stormfly sighed, shooting several spines into a target, three of which hit the bullseye. **"Remind me again why I can't let him fall to the floor."**

 **"Because the lesson's ending soon?"** Toothless answered sweetly, but with a note of sarcasm in his voice. **"Stormfly, it can't be all bad. You now have a not-so-secret admirer."**

 **"Come on, Stormfly, be grateful for what you have,"** Meatlug teased, a smirk on her face. **"Tuffnut might even treat you like he does Macey. And you know how much he likes Macey, don't you?"**

 **"He'll take me home with him and pretend to talk to me in some weird-sounding squeaky voice?"** Stormfly shrieked, forcing Toothless to literally bite his tongue just so he didn't burst out laughing. **"Not happening, you two!"** She then flew over to Belch and said two words:

 **"Take him."**

 **"Gladly,"** Belch said, holding Tuffnut in his jaws as the male Thorston squirmed and kicked out. **"Holding Fishlegs up makes my neck hurt. I don't know how Meatlug does it."**

 **"I'll take him,"** Stormfly offered, and grunted a little when Fishlegs slid onto her back. Belch, however, easily swung Tuffnut onto his now aching neck. **"Heavier than I thought. Hey, Meatlug! Want Fishlegs back?"**

 **"You don't need to ask,"** Meatlug replied, as she flew over to the Nadder as fast as she could, short wingspan to body-size ratio be damned. When Fishlegs hopped onto Meatlug's back, Hiccup was confused, but clambered onto Stormfly regardless.

"What are you doing?" Astrid yelled. "The lesson's supposed to be over; you said so yourself!"

"It's not me; it's the dragons!" Hiccup answered. "I think I know what they're doing! They're swapping their riders until they've got their actual rider back. And once that happens, they'll stop. Now, do you want Stormfly or not?"

Astrid only grinned as she jumped onto Stormfly, then helped Hiccup climb onto Barf's spindly neck. "Hey, Ruffnut! Lesson's over! Want Barf back?"

"OK," Ruffnut called, smiling as she flew over to Toothless. Then, a small dilemma arose. "How do I get to Barf without Toothless falling?"

"I'll get on him first," Hiccup strategized. "That way, when you get off, I'll be able to work his tailfin."

"Fine by me," Ruffnut shrugged, as she opened Toothless' tailfin as wide as it could go so he could fly on his own temporarily. Ruffnut's transition from Toothless' back to Barf's long neck was smooth, and Hiccup shuffled over to Toothless' saddle, which was a lot more comfortable than the rest of Toothless. (He was more used to leather than scales, to be honest. No offence to any dragons who may be reading this.)

"You know, maybe we should do this again sometime," Hiccup said, eliciting smiles from the other teens. "It was actually kinda fun."

"No thanks to Snotlout, who almost ruined it," Ruffnut said, then laughed. "Well, well! Speak of Loki, and he shall appear!"

"What?" everyone said, turning towards the gate. And that's when they saw something they knew they'd never see again, so they should take a good look at it while they had the chance.

Snotlout was walking towards the arena with a bucket of water in one hand, a sponge in the other and a face redder than Hookfang's, which most dragons didn't know was possible. Spitelout was carrying a ladder for the boy to use and Toothless immediately noticed that both hands were gripping the ladder tight enough for his knuckles to turn white, suggesting that he was really angry. Hookfang flew above them both, wearing a nervous grin that became not so nervous whenever he looked down at the pair. Toothless quickly motioned to the other dragons to take a look at this, and soon, no-one amongst them could contain their laughter.

"Now this is just priceless," Tuffnut snickered, wiping a tear of laughter from his eye with his index finger. "Our dragons are laughing at him. Even Hookfang's got a smirk on his face like no tomorrow. Snotlout's hit an all-time low."

"I never knew the Jorgensons ran a cleaning business," Fishlegs joked, making the group roar with laughter.

"So that's why Snotlout went to my house so much when I was younger! He wanted to make sure it was absolutely spotless!" Astrid giggled.

"Snotlout Jorgenson: clean business, dirty jokes," Hiccup laughed. "Oh, Thor, I'm never letting him forget this!"

"I hope you keep your word about that, Hiccup," Spitelout said, as he caught the last part of Hiccup's quip. "This is only the first part of Snotlout's punishment for what he said to Toothless today. Tomorrow he'll be apologizing to Toothless himself, since the dragon understood enough to be offended, and he'll be doing a special type of community service." Spying that Snotlout was standing around idly, he yelled, "Get to work, boyo! What d'ya think that bucket and sponge is for; decoration?"

"Sorry, Dad!" Snotlout yelped, and scrambled up the ladder like a Terrible Terror climbing a tree. As everyone lost their minds laughing at the terrified look on his face, Toothless approached Hookfang.

 **"Why's Snotlout cleaning the arena?"** Toothless asked, grinning mischeivously at the sight. **"I figured his father would just yell at him."**

 **"So did I,"** Hookfang admitted. **"He did shout, though, and it was absolutely glorious to watch. You should have heard him yelling at Snotlout for humiliating himself and his family in front of you and Hiccup by saying what he said, and that it would be a miracle if the chief didn't hear of this and demand to know what happened from Hiccup's point of view. He went into the usual you-should-be-ashamed-of-yourself thing every parent says. Then he suddenly went all nice-nice with Snotlout and told him about the whole cleaning the arena and apologising to you and community service. Didn't say what type of community service, though, but Snotlout looked terrified. Even tried asking for a different punishment, but his father refused. Something about making his bed and lying in it."**

 **"Interesting,"** Toothless mused, then gazed around the room with a grin. **"Guess I gave him a lot of work to do, didn't I? And he's not having much luck with it, either."**

 **"I think he's gotten rid of one symbol,"** Barf pointed out eagerly. **"He'll be done soon."**

 **"Or maybe that's just one word,"** Belch reconsidered.

 **"No, that's one letter, a fraction of a word,"** Toothless clarified, making all the dragons gasp with shock. **"Snotlout's got a** ** _long_** **way to go before he's done."**

As the other dragons cringed at Snotlout's colossal lack of judgement (directly proportionate to his colossal mouth) Hiccup had a quiet word with Spitelout out of view and earshot of everyone else.

"Uncle Spitelout?" Hiccup asked, not daring to look the man in the eyes until he realized that he might as well never say anything at all if he was going to act like a mouse. "I've got a request. Can you leave out the writing on the floor that says 'I can understand you'? It could act as a reminder for him not to do something like that again, and as a lesson to future dragon riders."

Spitelout nodded, planning not to tell his misbehaving son until he made a move to clean the floor just to annoy him. Smirking, laughing and making jokes about Snotlout's misfortune, the dragon riders exited the arena, leaving their friend to his unenviable fate. The dragons were sad that they had to leave without Hookfang, who had to stay with his rider throughout the ordeal, as he was apparently going to be useful to them in the chore of cleaning the arena.

* * *

Snotlout ended up staying there all night long, but it was all worth it in the end (sort of), as some villagers commented that the arena had never looked so clean. Snotlout, on the other hand, was tired, pale and had streaks of dirt on his face from where he'd accidentally wiped sweat off his forehead with a soot-covered hand. When Snotlout walked over to Toothless to publicly apologize, everyone noticed the bags under his now reddened eyes from staying up all night cleaning. He stuttered and stammered his way through his long, rambling apology speech to Toothless, and every once in a while, he'd look to his father, who'd watched his son stumble over his words from the now sparkling gates of the arena. Every few sentences Snotlout said, he grabbed a small handful of berries from the bucket he'd brought with him, and glare at Snotlout to keep talking.

Oh, and that 'community service' Spitelout was so eager to mention in front of the teens and their dragons? Later in the afternoon, Hiccup was working at the forge when he heard laughter. When he ventured out of the forge to take a look, he saw Snotlout tied to a pole, barefoot and without his helmet, laughing hysterically as yaks licked saltwater off his feet. A crowd of people were watching him, and none of them looked particularly sorry for the young delinquent. Nobody knew if the red tinge to his cheeks was caused by embarrassment or from laughing too hard, but it was safe to say he'd been there at least an hour, and that was enough for Snotlout to beg for leniency from his father, who simply told him in no uncertain terms that "the more ya beg, the longer ya stay there, so it's best for ya to shut up." That was enough to insure the teen's silence (other than his laughter). Hookfang also watched from the sidelines, eagerly explaining the situation in great detail to any and every dragon curious enough to ask what was going on (and there were a lot of curious dragons on Berk). The Monstrous Nightmare also made a few mental notes of his own, immediately deciding to himself that exploiting this weakness would be a fun way to pass the time if he ever became bored.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the first (and last) time anyone ever made rude comments about Toothless' missing tail, or Toothless in general, to be honest. Lots of people knew why Snotlout was being punished, and if they didn't believe Toothless was literate or sentient before, they just looked at the writing on the floor that had been deliberately left behind under Hiccup's orders. People now knew to watch what they said around Toothless and Hiccup, and that was how the pair liked it.

* * *

 ** _Well, what can I say, Snotlout's had this coming for a long time! Sorry if anyone seems OOC (Out Of Character). Anyway, please R &R so I know how to improve any future fanfics I write, HTTYD or otherwise. Have a nice life from FoxtrotTango543!_**

* * *

 _ **Hey, people, it's me again! The story may look different, but that's because I've added a few things and cleared up any spelling mistakes and missing words! Bye!**_


	2. Testing intelligence and patience

Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, and knowing my luck, I probably never will. All rights go to the author of the books, Cressida Cowell and the company that made the much-loved films and series, Dreamworks. This fanfiction is set in the Dragons: Riders of Berk series.

A/N: Just to clear things up to do with the story you're about to read, **bold** speech is when the dragons are talking, _italics_ are for when the humans are thinking, and **_bold italics_** are when the dragons are thinking. The UNDERLINED WORDS IN ALL CAPS are for Toothless' responses.

* * *

The next day, Astrid and Stormfly got to the arena early to find that Hiccup was laying pieces of paper onto the floor for Toothless, who was sleeping nearby. For a moment, she thought he'd gone mad, but then she realized that each piece of paper had a letter on it. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Seeing if Toothless can make words out of individual letters," Hiccup answered, as he laid them on the floor so Toothless could access it easier. He also had several copies of each letter, just in case letters repeated. "We know he can read, but my question is how well?"

"Ah," Astrid answered, rubbing Toothless' head. "Let's start with something simple, like names. Work our way up from there."

"Good point," Hiccup agreed. "Toothless, come here, bud." Toothless obediently walked over to the pair, nuzzling Astrid happily.

"Toothless, we want to test your ability to read," Astrid said. She didn't talk slower than she normally would, especially not after when Toothless had written Snotlout's insults on the walls and the words I CAN UNDERSTAND YOU on the floor for all to see. "Let's start with names. Can you spell my name with those letters, Toothless?" Toothless nodded.

ASTRID.

Hiccup smiled and rubbed Toothless' jaw. "Good job, bud," Hiccup answered. He was about to get Toothless some haddock, but then the other riders came in.

"What's that for?" the twins, ever the curious ones, asked. "Are you using them for this dragon training lesson?"

"Actually, I'm trying to get Toothless to make words from individual letters," Hiccup answered. Everyone grinned, but for different reasons. Fishlegs smiled at the thought of testing the limits of dragon intelligence. Ruffnut and Tuffnut smirked at the thought of not actually doing any work, and Snotlout was really liking the idea of having a dragon spell his name. So that was what he politely asked Toothless to do. I'm joking, obviously. He pushed his way to the front of the small crowd of teenagers and demanded that Hiccup made Toothless write his name.

"Hey, Toothless, if you want to learn to write names, you better start with mine. I have the longest first name here and the coolest," Snotlout bragged. "So you have to start with me if you want him to learn."

"I doubt that'll happen," Ruffnut scoffed. "Remember all those names you called him? You lied to your dad about them to get him in trouble, but you were found out."

"Toothless would never write your name," Tuffnut said.

"I still want him to get used to names, including long ones," Hiccup answered. "Let's see if he can spell your name, Snotlout."

Hiccup stepped back so Toothless could get to the letters, and the dragon wasted no time. The Night Fury let a green eye scan over them, before assessing what he needed. Quickly, he took all the letters he needed and rearranged them to spell Snotlout's name, which is obviously spelled like this:

JERK.

The dragon riders laughed, already thinking of many jokes to tell. "Hey, Toothless, I say you spelled his name perfectly! Snotlout should always be spelled J-E-R-K!" Astrid giggled.

"Seems your name isn't as long as you thought!" Fishlegs snickered. The twins would've responded to this in their own smartass way, but they had bigger issues, like how not to collapse laughing by this point.

"OK, maybe that wasn't such a good idea," Hiccup said, regretfully. The other riders didn't think so, judging from the loud laughter echoing around the arena. "Let's try with my name. Toothless, can you spell my name?"

Toothless again looked over them, before taking letters and writing his answer.

HICCUP.

He then took some time to think, then took some new letters, replaced some and wrote a new answer.

CLEVER.

Awws came from Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Astrid and Fishlegs. Hiccup was touched, while Snotlout was pissed. "How come you didn't write _my_ name?" Snotlout whined, making everyone roll their eyes at the sound of Snotlout ruining the moment. Did that guy ever learn anything? "Look, Toothless, one last chance to write something other than jerk, you hear me?" The twins went back to sniggering when he said this. Toothless thought about it, before writing a message that made everyone laugh harder.

STUPID.

Snotlout's face went red with anger as everyone split their sides laughing. Even Hiccup was laughing, rubbing Toothless' head as the smug dragon looked him in the eye as if he was daring Snotlout to get him in trouble. The other dragons had some questions for Toothless. **"What's got Snotlout so angry?"** Hookfang asked Toothless. **"I bet it's funny to hear about."**

 **"Snotface wanted me to write his name, and I wrote JERK,"** Toothless answered. **"Then he wanted me to write something other than that, so I wrote STUPID. Don't know why he's so angry. Stupid _is_ something other than jerk!"**

 **"Now I wish I could read so I could write messages like that,"** Barf and Belch sighed. **"Snotlout looks so angry."**

 **"Way to go!"** Hookfang cheered. **"I know I'm his dragon, but Snotlout can be really dumb."**

 **"You don't say?"** Stormfly and Meatlug chorused sarcastically.

 _ **I wonder if the other humans will want me to write more things for them,**_ Toothless thought. **_Let's find out._**

"Hiccup, I need to talk to you," Stoick boomed, walking into the arena like he owned it (which, I guess, he kinda did, being chief and all). "Word I'm hearing is that Toothless here can read and write better than some Vikings! Is it true?"

"Surprisingly enough, yes," Hiccup answered. "Although he's only writing one-word answers at the moment. I could ask him your name if you want."

"Toothless, who am I?" Stoick asked the dragon, looking into his intelligent eyes. Toothless gathered the letters he needed and wrote his answer.

CHIEF.

"Toothless, that's not right," Stoick answered. "While it's good to know that you know I'm the chief, my name is not chief. My name is Stoick."

STOICK.

"That's better," Stoick confirmed, smiling. He then pointed to the twins. "Who are they?"

TWINS.

"Individual names?"

RUFFNUT AND TUFFNUT.

"Where do people go to get drunk?"

MEAD HALL.

"What do you call someone who doesn't like dragons?"

THEIR NAME.

"True," Stoick acknowledged, smirking. "But there is a special word that is given to them. What is it?"

MILDEW.

"Toothless, no!" Hiccup yelled, attracting the attention of the other riders, who'd forgotten about Toothless, and the dragons, who'd not been allowed near any of the drama since they were all illiterate. "When someone asks you what you call someone who doesn't like dragons, Mildew isn't the right answer!"

Everyone lost their minds when they heard this; some at how extreme Hiccup's reaction was, some at how accurately Toothless had answered the question. Snotlout even forgot about being called a jerk and laughed. **"That sounds right to me!"** Hookfang disagreed, laughing. **"If you find someone who doesn't like dragons, you call them Mildew!"**

 **"Finally, somebody said it!"** Stormfly cheered.

 **"Good thing Mildew isn't here!"** Meatlug giggled.

As if on cue, Mildew stormed in with a few things he usually had all the time: a staff, Fungus and a look on his face like someone pissed in his yak milk. "I've got something to ask you, boy!" he growled, apparently not caring that Stoick was here. "Why are you lying about the dragon? He can't read!" The other riders and their dragons were gathering round, priming themselves to be ready to defend Toothless the way they had done before.

"You can ask him a question if you want," Hiccup answered. "Do you want to ask him a question?"

"I do, but I'm only asking one," Mildew grumbled, in his usual shut-up-and-go voice. "Dragon, what am I?"

Toothless had already decided that he didn't like Mildew much a long time before, but being rude to Hiccup and calling him a liar was unacceptable. Good thing he already had an answer to that particular question, though.

GRUMPY OLD MAN WITH A SHEEP.

"How dare you!" Mildew yelled, as the other teenagers laughed even harder, most of them leaning on their dragons for stability. "Hiccup, did you teach him to be this disrespectful?"

"I have no idea where he gets this from!" Hiccup maintained, doing his best to keep a straight face as he talked to Mildew.

"That dragon is trouble, mark my words," Mildew growled, as he stormed out of the arena with Fungus in tow. Once out of his sight and hearing range, Hiccup burst out laughing, too, along with Stoick. At last, no more pretences about being serious. Father and son laughed heartily, the happy sound only ending when Stoick realized he had to go.

"I was only dropping in to see if the rumours are true," Stoick smiled, ruffling his son's hair. "If you want to find me, I'll be eating in the Great Hall."

Smiling, Stoick turned on his heel and walked to meet Gobber at the Great Hall. Oh, he had a funny tale to tell his old friend tonight.

* * *

Meanwhile, the other dragons had to ask Toothless what Mildew was yelling about before he left. **"Toothless, what did you write to get him that angry?"** Barf and Belch asked.

 **"I don't think I'm getting away with this one,"** Toothless lied. He knew nobody would punish him for this. Nobody liked Mildew enough to defend him against a smart-mouthed dragon.

 **"Ooh, this is going to be good. What did you call him?"** Hookfang asked.

 **"Come on, how bad could it be?"** Meatlug teased.

 **"Don't say things like that!"** Stormfly jokingly warned. **"When you said 'Good thing Mildew isn't here', Mildew came in! Asking how bad it could be is asking for trouble!"** All the other dragons laughed and smiled. **"Anyway, what did you say?"**

Toothless hesitated, but decided to tell them anyway. **"I called him a grumpy old man with a sheep,"** he answered. Every other dragon cheered.

 **"Good thing Hiccup taught you how to read,"** Hookfang laughed. **"Shame he didn't teach you to defend yourself against me."** He pounced on Toothless and attacked his ribs, forcing out adorable giggles as Hookfang slid the tip of his tail across his sides, going forwards and backwards like a saw, which Toothless hated. Stormfly and Meatlug thought it was adorable, while Barf and Belch wanted in.

 **"Toothless can be rather rude sometimes,"** Barf explained to the girls, as he nuzzled Toothless' tummy, **"so we're trying to get him to stop."**

 **"Not sure how he manages to stay so sarcastic, knowing exactly how ticklish he is,"** Belch joked, as he stroked the underside of one of his wings.

 **"YAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NOHOHOHOHOHOHO MOHOHOHOHOHOHOHORE!"** Toothless screamed, thrashing around as much as possible, which wasn't that much, thanks to Hookfang, Barf and Belch holding him down. Hookfang just teased him even more about it. This was just too good to give up, after all!

 **"Wow, he's more sensitive than a hatchling,"** Hookfang cooed. **"And I though Snotlout had it bad when the yaks were licking him!"**

 **"STOHOHOHOHOP TEHEHEHEHEHEASING MEHEHEHEHEHE!"** Toothless yelled, seriously embarrassed. Oh Thor, the teasing was the worst! And Hookfang seemed to be enjoying it!

 **"Oh, stop whining, you'd have to deal with much worse from the girls,"** Hookfang told him. **"I wonder what they'd call him."**

 **"They'd think he was precious,"** Barf described.

 **"SHUT UHUHUHUHUP!"** Toothless yelped.

 **"Sweet,"** Belch continued.

 **"YOHOHOHOHOHOU'RE MEHEHEHEHEHEHEAN!"** Toothless whined, flinching as Hookfang's claws traced where his wings and back met. Tears of laughter sprung up at the corners of his eyes.

 **"Adorable,"** Barf taunted. Toothless couldn't protest any more; he was too busy laughing.

 **"And,"** both heads chorused, leaning in close to Toothless' limp form so they could whisper in his ear, **"cute."** Once that fatal word was uttered, Hookfang stopped torturing Toothless with the long claws and tail he hated, believing that Toothless couldn't take any more. Oddly, Toothless made no move to shut them up once he'd regained some strength, and it soon became clear why.

"Toothless?" Hiccup asked, rubbing the sleeping dragon's jaw. "Sleeping, are you? Well, can't say I blame you, bud, I'm a little tired myself." _You can stay here tonight, I don't have the heart to wake you._ As Hiccup walked away, Stormfly and Meatlug had a few things to ask Hookfang, Barf and Belch.

 **"Why is he this tired?"** Stormfly asked. **"Is he supposed to be sleeping?"**

 **"I don't think so, Stormfly,"** Meatlug glowered. **"The boys went too rough on him and he passed out."** Stormfly gasped, and glared at Hookfang.

 **"We didn't mean to!"** Hookfang explained.

 **"It was just a joke that went a little too far!"** Barf and Belch excused. Nervous grins adorned the faces of Hookfang, Barf and Belch. Oh, they were in it deep.

 **"I can't believe you'd do that!"** Stormfly ranted. **"You deliberately went too rough on Toothless with your little 'game', even when he said 'no more'. If you ever do something as irresponsible as that again, I'll make sure you take night watch duty for a month!"** The boys gulped. Night watch had quickly become as detestable as eels to them.

 **"This is unacceptable behaviour from two grown dragons! You should _never_ have pinned Toothless to the floor like that, especially when you know you're - aww, he moved in his sleep!" **Meatlug cooed, fussing over Toothless' sleeping form as she went from stern authoritarian to gushing mother.

 **"He did!"** Stormfly fawned. **"Ohhh, he's just adorable when he's sleeping! I'm staying right here to see if he'll do it again!"**

 **"What are they doing?"** Barf and Belch whispered. Hookfang took charge from there.

 **"Yeah, I can see why,"** he nonchalantly agreed. **"Hey, how about you take night watch tonight just so you can watch him?"**

 **"Yes!"** both dragonesses squealed. Hookfang shooed Barf and Belch out of the arena and safely out of their hearing range.

 **"Watch the master, hatchlings,"** Hookfang grinned, **"because** ** _that's_** **how you get out of night watch."**

* * *

 _ **I always wanted to write a second chapter to this story, since it always had this 'finished but also unfinished' vibe to it. So I wrote this second chapter showing how Toothless was using his new ability to answer people's question in the most hilarious way possible. Hope you liked it! FT543 over and out!**_

 _ **Edit: There will be a third chapter to this!**_


	3. Mouthy 'older brother'

Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, and knowing my luck, I probably never will. All rights go to the author of the books, Cressida Cowell and the company that made the much-loved films and series, Dreamworks. This fanfiction is set in the Dragons: Riders of Berk series.

A/N: Just to clear things up to do with the story you're about to read, **bold** speech is when the dragons are talking, _italics_ are for when the humans are thinking, and **_bold italics_** are when the dragons are thinking. The UNDERLINED WORDS IN ALL CAPS are for Toothless' responses.

* * *

One day had gone after the incident with Mildew and Toothless in the arena, which was now a joke that started with "What do you call someone who . . . ?" (Gobber, as someone who'd heard it straight from the chief's mouth and local source of gossip anyway, helped to spread the word.) Hiccup had decided to test Toothless' ability to read even further with the same pieces of paper with letters in them. He took them to the arena where Toothless was sleeping (he'd mysteriously gone straight to sleep where he stood) and gently shook the Night Fury awake. Toothless didn't wake up immediately, but Hookfang was quickly roused. Hiccup's soothing words were annoying the half-asleep Monstrous Nightmare.

 _ **Great, Hiccup's come here to wake up Toothless, who could sleep through a forest fire, an Outcast invasion, and the sound of Barf and Belch talking in their sleep all in one night. If I want to get any more sleep, I might as well help Hiccup out,**_ Hookfang rationalized in his head, as he got up to assist the one-legged brunette in the task of waking Toothless.

"Hey there, bud," Hiccup cooed. "You've got to wake up now, bud, it's morning."

 **"But I'm tired,"** Toothless complained. **"Just a few more minutes."**

 **"Nope, you're getting up now,"** Hookfang told him, nudging Toothless' side. **"The longer I have to listen to your rider, the less time I get to use doing things I like doing."**

 **"Like what?"** Toothless retorted. He definitely wasn't a morning dragon, that Toothless.

 **"Like sleeping, eels-for-brains!"** Hookfang growled with frustration, before remembering the ace he had up his (nonexistent) sleeve. **"You don't want me to show Hiccup how ticklish you are, do you?"**

 **"You wouldn't!"** Toothless bluffed, secretly terrified. He didn't want Hiccup to know that! He'd probably show the other humans, and then every dragon on Berk would see him as a joke!

 **"Oh, I would,"** Hookfang grinned, before pouncing on Toothless and focusing on his sides. **"Get up, you lazy little hatchling!"**

 **"Nohohohohohohoho!"** Toothless giggled, squirming as he tried to hit Hookfang with his tail. That idea was quickly squashed when Hookfang held it down with his wing. Hiccup, abandoned so quickly, stood on the sidelines watching the priceless scene unfold.

"Oh, I see how it is. You're willing to ignore me and listen to Hookfang? Well, I guess I can afford to wait, since you two are having so much fun," Hiccup teased, stepping outside to wait. He couldn't stop them now. They were adorable. Toothless even sounded like he was laughing, even though that had to be impossible.

 **"You know what? I think Hiccup was right about us having fun. Well, one of us, anyway,"** Hookfang grinned, as his ridiculously long tail explored the join where Toothless' wings and back met. Toothless screamed and thrashed around, but he didn't beg . . . yet.

 **"Stohohohop being a jeheheherk!"** Toothless squealed. This made Hookfang stop and think. And when _Hookfang_ , of all dragons, decides to stop and think, you know things are bad.

 **"Oh you think I'm a jerk, Toothless? I guess I'll have to show you what a real jerk is like,"** Hookfang told him. Toothless gulped. **"For a start, let's get rid of any ideas that I might give you time to breathe. You don't need that!"**

 **"But I do!"** Toothless answered, backing away from Hookfang slowly.

 **"Doesn't mean you're getting them,"** Hookfang grinned. Toothless gulped.

 **"It won't last long, will it, Hookfang?"** Toothless asked.

 **"It depends,"** Hookfang answered casually, before attacking all of Toothless' known sweet spots at once: sides, tummy, ribs, the bottoms of his back feet and the undersides of his wings. **"I don't think you'd mind if I did this to you for an entire day, though. I think you like this!"**

 **"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HOOKFAHAHAHAHANG, NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!"** Toothless begged, quickly broken by the insane amount of tickling. Hookfang hadn't been doing this for long, but he was clearly a professional, and knew exactly how to make Toothless squeal and giggle. Toothless tried to simply grin and bear it, but that was quickly deemed impossible when Hookfang decided to count how many ribs a Night Fury had, letting his long claws count one side while his tail counted the other. Eventually, Toothless surrendered.

 **"I GIVE UHUHUHUHUP! NO MOHOHOHORE!"** Toothless screamed. He hated that he gave in so easily, but Hookfang was ruthless. The red Monstrous Nightmare abruptly stopped, rubbing Toothless' back with his wing to help him breathe.

 **"Finally, you gave in! Now get up; I want to go back to sleep!"** Hookfang instructed. Shakily, Toothless got up and walked out of the arena with Hiccup, still breathing the giggles out of his system.

"Come on, bud, we still need to get you some breakfast before I ask you some questions," Hiccup said, taking the letters and pulling Toothless by the ear to get him moving a little quicker, but not too hard or it would hurt his friend. "I hear they've got a net full of fresh cod down at the docks."

* * *

After breakfast, Toothless and Hiccup went to the Great Hall, where they were set upon by a crowd of curious Vikings all wanting to know how Toothless could possibly read. "It should be impossible for a dragon to know how to read!" one man yelled. "So how does he know?"

"He's seen enough of the Book of Dragons to know how to read, I guess," Hiccup answered. "He seems to have taught himself from that alone. I'm still not sure how he did it." Suddenly, Snotlout (unsurprisingly) pushed and elbowed his way to the front of the crowd.

"Hey, Hiccup, here's a question. Why is it that your dragon will write anyone's name but mine?" Snotlout asked, condescendingly. He was shouted down by the angry mob.

"You called him a useless thing and said you wanted a dragon that could fly on its own!"

"You tried to fight him!"

"I don't care what he did to you; I'd have said worse if you did it to me!"

"You said he was a cripple and asked to swap!"

"That's enough! That's enough!" Hiccup yelled, but it took the roar of a Night Fury to calm the crowd. "Thanks, Toothless."

"Excuse me, Hiccup," came a voice, and the crowd parted to let Spitelout through, "but I've been hearing that Toothless refuses to write my son's name." Spitelout may have been acting nice, but he was trying to make his son feel better by tricking the dragon into writing Snotlout's name so he wouldn't be so embarrassed. "Is that because he doesn't know how to spell it?"

"Yeah, he definitely doesn't know how to spell it," Snotlout goaded, catching on to his father's plan. "Toothless, how do you spell my name?" Toothless immediately wrote an answer for the father and son.

NICE TRY, YOU TWO.

The crowd laughed, and both Snotlout and Spitelout turned red. Their plan had been foiled, and so quickly, too. Soon, Snotlout's mother would hear about it, and she'd kill them both. Being outwitted by a dragon was something neither of them would live down for quite some time.

"Wait, you were planning to trick Toothless into writing your name like _that?_ " Hiccup asked, incredulous at Snotlout's stupidity. "You do know he's smarter than that, right?"

"Everyone knows he's smarter than that!" Gobber yelled. "He's the one that called Mildew a grumpy old man with a sheep!" The crowd of rowdy Vikings cheered and laughed, with some of the especially drunk ones raising a toast in Toothless' honour.

"He's not wrong!" a Viking woman laughed.

"I still say saying it to his face was mean," Hiccup said. The crowd groaned. Toothless was quick to reply.

I THOUGHT YOU WEREN'T CHIEF YET.

"HA! You hear that, Hiccup? Your dragon insulted you!" Snotlout gleefully pointed out. "Maybe he doesn't seem so funny anymore, does he?"

LEAVE MY BROTHER ALONE.

"Thanks, Toothless," Hiccup answered, smiling at Toothless for his loyalty before the true meaning of the Night Fury's words hit him like a tail-slap to the face. "Toothless, do you think of me as your little brother?" Toothless nodded, and awws echoed around the walls of the Great Hall. Snotlout wasn't moved by the gesture.

"Look, you stupid dragon, you can't have Hiccup as your brother," Snotlout told him, as boos erupted from the angry villagers. "You're not really family." Toothless had an answer for that.

WATCH ME.

"Oh, I don't want to watch you if I can stop you myself," Snotlout grunted, before trying to separate Toothless and Hiccup. But Toothless was pretty hard to move, and Snotlout only made a fool of himself as he tried to drag the Night Fury away from the boy he had deemed his brother. "Come on, you useless reptile, move!" Toothless swept his feet out from under him, yawning as he did so. This was incredibly boring!

"Toothless, don't do that to him!" Hiccup scolded. "That's rude! Besides, if you really want a lesson to be taught, it's _always_ better not to hurt them!"

 _ **So, to teach someone a lesson, you shouldn't hurt them?**_ Toothless thought. _**That's doable.**_ Toothless stopped for a moment, then picked Snotlout up and took him out of the Great Hall. **"You and me have to go somewhere,"** Toothless said, even though the younger Jorgenson would never in a million years understand him. **"Don't worry, it won't take very long."**

"Toothless, what are you doing?" Hiccup asked, following his dragon out of the doors and accidentally taking the entire Berk population with him. "Toothless, we've been through this! You don't have to take Snotlout somewhere just because he's annoying you!"

Toothless didn't listen, just walking faster to leave Hiccup and the crowd behind him. He eventually stopped at a house and stood on two legs to give himself more height. When he saw that it wasn't enough, he resorted to climbing on top of the house and leaving Snotlout at the very top. Smirking, he got down as fast as he could, as the crowd cheered and laughed. Spitelout and Hiccup stood at the front of the crowd, with an almost bemused look on their faces.

"When you told Toothless that you shouldn't hurt someone to teach them a lesson," Spitelout asked, "is this what you meant?"

"Nope," Hiccup replied.

"Is it still a good way of teaching a lesson?" Spitelout continued.

"Yep," Hiccup grinned, before turning to Toothless. "Why'd you do that, bud?" Since Toothless and Hiccup had left all the letters in the Great Hall, he used his claws to scratch a message in the dirt for Hiccup to read out to Snotlout.

NOBODY TREATS MY BROTHER THAT WAY.

Everyone awwed at Toothless, who simply grinned the way only a mischievous older brother could. Spitelout eventually spoke up. "Toothless, I know that you'd happily protect your brother at any cost, but why do you need to leave him _on top of my house?_ " And everyone who wasn't Snotlout Jorgenson laughed their asses off again.

"And when are you getting me down?" Snotlout yelled, forgotten on the roof of his house.

YOUR INSULTS ARE WHAT GOT YOU UP THERE. IF YOU ANNOY THE RIGHT PERSON, MAYBE THEY'LL GET YOU DOWN.

"Maybe they will," Spitelout laughed, as his son pouted on the roof and tried to get down (failing miserably). "Maybe they will."

"Hey, Hiccup!" Astrid greeted, as Stormfly landed and let Astrid touch the ground. "I've been looking all over for you and - why is Snotlout on the roof of his house?"

"Toothless' fault!" Snotlout yelled, pointing at the smug grin that was Toothless. Astrid giggled.

"Clever Toothless!" Astrid cooed, rubbing Toothless' jaw in that special 'sweet spot' he liked so much. "Hiccup won't need to worry about your breakfast, since I now owe you a basket of cod." Toothless grinned, while Stormfly was thoroughly jealous.

 **"You're so lucky. When's Astrid going to get me a basket of chicken?"** she huffed.

 **"The day you leave Snotlout on the roof,"** Toothless answered, pointing up at the angry teen.

Stormfly gasped when she actually saw Snotlout on the roof of his house, then giggled at the pissed-off look on his face. **"On second thoughts, forget what I said about Astrid getting me a basket of chicken. I wouldn't deserve it, but you would."**

 **"Thanks!"** Toothless smiled.

 **"Why is Snotlout on the roof?"** Hookfang asked, giving Toothless a few tickly pokes to get him to be a little more talkative.

 **"Hehehey! He's there because I put him there!"** Toothless yelped. **"He was trying to separate me and Hiccup, but when I tripped him, Hiccup said I shouldn't hurt someone to teach them a lesson!"**

 **"And I'm guessing this is your way of not breaking the rules?"** Hookfang asked. Toothless nodded. Hookfang grinned. **"Nice work, you little rebel!"**

"Toothless, come on," Hiccup called. "We've got to go now!"

"You too, Stormfly!" Astrid yelled.

"Hookfang, get your scaly butt inside!" Snotlout demanded. Hookfang grinned at him, before taking off.

 **"I guess Hookfang will be staying the night in the arena again,"** Toothless grinned. **"See you tomorrow, Stormfly!"**

 **"You too, Toothless!"** Stormfly replied. And with that, both dragons flew in opposite directions to the houses they called home.

* * *

 _ **So, how did that go? I hope this chapter lived up to the two others that came before it! FT543 signing out!**_


	4. A question

Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, and knowing my luck, I probably never will. All rights go to the author of the books, Cressida Cowell and the company that made the much-loved films and series, Dreamworks. This fanfiction is set in the Dragons: Riders of Berk series.

A/N: Just to clear things up to do with the story you're about to read, **bold** speech is when the dragons are talking, _italics_ are for when the humans are thinking, and **_bold italics_** are when the dragons are thinking. The UNDERLINED WORDS IN ALL CAPS are for Toothless' responses. Although I hate to spoil my own fanfic in the author's note, but Toothless can be mouthy AF. This chapter is just a couple of short stories of Toothless using his ability for the greater good . . . sort of.

* * *

 **Fetch**

As Toothless was having a conversation with Hiccup via writing to him, Snotlout was briefing Gustav, a boy he'd deemed his protégé, on what to do to Toothless to properly put him in his place. That dragon couldn't be allowed to insult him any longer, and he needed to be brought back down to the ground.

"You know what to do, Gustav?" Snotlout hissed. "You absolutely sure what to do when you see Toothless?"

"Yes, sir!" Gustav told him. "It's simple, but genius. That being said, why am _I_ doing it and not you?"

"He's too used to me," Snotlout told him, disguising his embarrassment with an air of helplessness. "For this to work, we need to surprise him. And that's why we have you. Now get out there and deal with that dragon!"

"Yes, sir!" Gustav repeated, walking over to Toothless with the only weapons he needed: his wit and a stick. "Hey, Toothless. I'd like to play a game with you. You don't mind, do you?"

 **"It depends,"** Toothless answered. Gustav took that as a yes.

"Good, because I want you to play fetch. Fetch, Toothless, fetch!" Gustav said cheerily, throwing the stick behind him and waiting for Toothless to go and get it.

But he didn't. Toothless only looked to Hiccup in a confused manner, expecting Hiccup to explain what Gustav was doing. "Yeah, I don't know what he's doing either, bud," Hiccup whispered. Gustav heard him.

"Why is it so hard to understand?" Gustav yelled, unintentionally drawing an audience. "I want Toothless to play fetch, and he won't do anything!"

"I think he might be a little too smart for fetch," Hiccup answered.

"Oh, come on, Hiccup! If Toothless can write 'I CAN UNDERSTAND YOU' on the floor, then I guess he can understand enough to play fetch!" Gustav argued. The other dragon riders and their dragons (minus Snotlout, who was watching from a distance to see if Toothless' smart-aleck tendencies would come back to bite him) were wondering what Snotlout was doing. Even Hookfang was surprised at the amount of stupidity being displayed by Gustav.

 **"How stupid is he?"** Hookfang marvelled. **"Didn't anyone ever teach him that dragons don't play fetch?"**

 **"Apparently not,"** Barf and Belch muttered. **"This sounds like something Snotlout would do."** (They weren't wrong.)

 **"How do you know it wasn't the twins?"** Hookfang shot back.

 **"Don't you dare remind us of all the dumb things they've done,"** Stormfly groaned.

 **"Don't worry about it; Toothless will deal with him soon!"** Meatlug told them optimistically.

While the dragons were talking, the twins were placing bets. "Hey sis, I bet you a week's worth of my chores that Toothless will set him on fire," Tuffnut whispered.

"I bet you a month's worth of my chores that Toothless will make _him_ play fetch," Ruffnut grinned.

"Deal!" Tuffnut agreed, as the two shook hands. They then settled down to watch the now rather entertaining show.

"Come on, Toothless, why won't you play?" Gustav pleaded. "It's easy - I throw the stick, and you fetch it." Toothless replied in record time.

YOU THREW IT. YOU GET IT.

"Hey, that's not how it works!" Gustav yelled. It was hard to hear him over the laughter of the other Vikings. Even the chief of Berk, Stoick the Vast, had to stifle a chuckle. "Don't you ever - hey, give that back!" Toothless had grabbed the helmet off Gustav's head and was playing keep-away with it. "That's not yours!"

Toothless threw the helmet into a nearby yak field, neatly landing on top of the head of an actual yak. "I guess I win, bro," Ruffnut gloated. Tuffnut's defeat only became more real when Toothless wrote a single word for Gustav.

FETCH.

* * *

 **Confusion**

One day, Toothless decided to ask Hiccup and Astrid about something that confused him - why he wasn't allowed to ask Gobber about _anything_ , no matter how curious he may be.

WHY CAN'T I ASK GOBBER ANYTHING?

"Because it's Gobber, Toothless," Hiccup answered. "Gobber has crazy explanations for just about everything, and you'll just become more confused. And for Thor's sake, Toothless, never ask him about trolls, ever."

GOBBER TAUGHT YOU AND YOU WERE FINE.

"That's different, though! Gobber wasn't allowed to go crazy while teaching me how to navigate a forge!" Hiccup argued, as Astrid giggled. "Astrid, don't encourage him!"

"But it's true!" the blonde Valkyrie laughed.

IF I CAN'T ASK GOBBER, AND I CAN'T FIND YOU, WHO DO I GO TO IF I'M CURIOUS AND WANT SOMETHING ANSWERED?

"You can ask me," Astrid volunteered.

YOU THROW AXES AT PEOPLE.

"Toothless, I would never throw an axe at you," Astrid told him, rubbing that special spot she knew damn well he liked. "Now, anyone else you could ask? You mind asking Fishlegs?"

FISHLEGS WILL ASK ME THINGS INSTEAD OF ME ASKING HIM THINGS.

"True," Hiccup said with a wry smile on his face. "The twins?"

BUT WHAT IF I'M NOT ASKING ABOUT PRANKS OR EXPLOSIONS?

"Right," Hiccup said, almost losing his mind with frustration. "What about Snotlout, bud?"

Toothless left the room immediately after Hiccup mentioned Snotlout's name. A few seconds later, Astrid and Hiccup could hear the sound of a Night Fury being violently sick into some bushes.

"Well, that's the end of that," Astrid answered, surprised.

* * *

 **Mead**

When Hiccup and Toothless walked past the Mead Hall one day, minding their own business, they found a completely wasted Snotlout and Spitelout staggering around drunkenly in an effort to find their house. "Hello, cuz'n," Snotlout slurred. "Ya min' wa'kin wi' usz?"

"Alwaysh good to have shomeone who'sh shober," Spitelout mumbled drunkenly. "That'sh what makesh ush - oh, no." Suddenly, all the beers caught up with him at once, and Spitelout uncontrollably wet himself in front of his horrified, hopelessly drunk son.

"Dad, that'sh dishgushtin - oh, crap." All the beers Snotlout drank caught up to him too. And, as Hiccup and Toothless quickly learned, the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

"Uhh, are you two all right?" Hiccup asked, feeling stupid even asking that question. "Do you want me to get you anything?"

"Just geddush home, boyo," Spitelout slurred. "We'll be fine onsh we've changed."

"Oh, you're anything but fine," came an angry female voice. It was Snotlout's mother, AKA Spitelout's wife. She was absolutely livid. "I can't believe you two got drunk! I had no idea where you'd gone because neither of you thought to leave a note and - Thor's backside, that is absolutely disgusting!" she cried, when she saw the puddle they'd left. "You two are coming home right now! I'm so sorry you boys had to see that." She dragged them both home by the ear, ignoring their drunken pleas of pain as she made sure they knew exactly how bad they'd messed up. Once they'd gone, Toothless had a burning question to ask.

DOES THAT HAPPEN EVERY TIME SOMEONE GETS DRUNK?

Hiccup chuckled. "No, Toothless, no."

The next day, there was a small crowd outside the Jorgenson house. Snotlout and Spitelout were standing outside looking rather embarrassed. There was a sign next to them that said **WE GOT TOO DRUNK AND WET OURSELVES.** Gobber in particular thought it was hilarious, and asked Mrs Jorgenson if he could keep the sign once she was done with it, to which she said yes. "I shall never let you two forget this for as long as I live," Gobber laughed. Spitelout groaned with shame, and Snotlout glared daggers at him.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, why don't you?" Snotlout grumbled.

"I'm sure that's just the hangover talking, but thanks for the permission," Gobber fired back, smirking.

"Hey, you got any water for me?" Spitelout asked, bleary-eyed. He saw Hiccup and Toothless and waved them over. "Hiccup, there's a good lad. Ask your aunt if she has any water, but don't tell her it's for me."

"You can't have any water!" Mrs Jorgenson yelled. "And you owe those two boys an apology!"

"For what?" Spitelout asked. "I don't remember anything from last night."

"Me neither, Dad," Snotlout agreed.

"They had to witness you soiling yourselves, that's why!" the woman yelled. A group of passing Vikings laughed their butts off. Snotlout and Spitelout blushed beet red and mumbled apologies. Hookfang was watching from above, and dragged Toothless behind the house.

 **"What happened?"** the Monstrous Nightmare asked. **"You have got to tell me everything."**

 **"They wanted me and Hiccup to walk with them to their houses because it makes them look . . . I don't know how it makes them look, they stopped talking after they decided to make the Great Hall their territory,"** Toothless told him. **"Then Spitelout's mate came to get them and they're both being punished."**

 **"And just when I thought Snotlout couldn't get any dumber,"** Hookfang groaned. **"Sorry about them."**

 **"It's fine,"** Toothless laughed. **"It could be worse."**

* * *

 _ **Well, I guess that**_ The writing on the wall _ **saga is finally at an end! Sorry if you thought it would continue past this point! FT543 signing out!**_

* * *

 _ **Edit: I take it back! There will be another chapter to be added to**_ The Writing on the wall _ **saga! I promise!**_


	5. Captured

Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, and knowing my luck, I probably never will. All rights go to the author of the books, Cressida Cowell and the company that made the much-loved films and series, Dreamworks. This fanfiction is set in the Dragons: Riders of Berk series.

A/N: Just to clear things up to do with the story you're about to read, **bold** speech is when the dragons are talking, _italics_ are for when the humans are thinking, and **_bold italics_** are when the dragons are thinking. The UNDERLINED WORDS IN ALL CAPS are for Toothless' responses.

* * *

"Seize the boy and get the dragon!" Alvin the Treacherous roars as Outcast soldiers dragged Hiccup and Toothless over to their cells. Hiccup couldn't stop kicking himself in the leg at how stupid he'd been for going out alone and without telling anyone where he was going. Nobody from Berk would know where he was, and that was what Alvin was counting on. Two burly Outcast soldiers grabbed Hiccup and hauled him over to Alvin, while six others restrained Toothless.

"Alvin, why do we need to capture them? Can't we just kill them?" a dimwitted Outcast soldier asked. Alvin thumped him.

"We need the boy to train our dragons, and we need the dragon to keep some leverage with the boy," Alvin snarled. "Do I need to throw you into a cell until you understand?"

"No, sir!" the soldier replied quickly, as he dragged Hiccup into a cell.

"The rest of you! Find an empty cage to keep the Night Fury in!" Alvin barked. "You, Sigurd! Keep watch so he doesn't escape!"

"Yes, sir!" Sigurd shouted, grinning sadistically as he dragged Toothless to an empty cell by the muzzle. "You're mine now, dragon," he hissed into Toothless' ear.

* * *

Toothless sighed as he sat in the empty, filthy cell. Not even an hour had gone by and he already felt as if he'd gone insane. The only thing to break up the monotony of it all was the annoying voice of Sigurd. _**Does this guy ever shut up?**_ Toothless thought glumly. Sigurd noticed his melancholy state, and chose to torment him more.

"Daww, does the big, bad Night Fury want me to get Hiccup? Well, I can't do that for you. He's busy training _our_ dragons, and he won't be able to see you. Anything to say?" Sigurd taunted.

That was when a lightbulb went off in Toothless' head. _**If he wants to know how I feel about this, then I should tell him,**_ Toothless realised, as he wrote a message for Sigurd.

WHEN WILL YOU LET HICCUP GO?

Sigurd reeled with shock. The dragon was writing to him! But that should be impossible! Most dragons don't even properly respond to their own names, and this Night Fury was writing to him! Then, his mind was taken over by thoughts of his own gain. Presenting a dragon that could write to Alvin would elevate him to a rank higher than even Savage! Maybe he'd be Alvin's right hand man, with Savage banished to the dungeons for failing to find what had been under his nose the whole time. Now that sounded perfect. "Dragon," he asked gleefully, "who taught you how to write?"

HICCUP TAUGHT ME. WHY?

That was all he needed to run and get another Outcast soldier who was on break from his duties. "Got something to show you," he said breathlessly. "In the Night Fury's cell." Sigurd's colleague agreed and went with him to Toothless' cell . . . where he saw a sleeping Night Fury in a cell that was stripped bare.

"So . . . what were you going to show me?" his colleague asked.

"I-I don't get it! It was right there!" Sigurd screamed. His colleague patted his shoulder as he walked away.

"Maybe you just need some more sleep. Doing night watch all the time can't be good for you," the anonymous soldier said as he left to enjoy the rest of his break. Sigurd stared at Toothless' sleeping form as if he'd betrayed him. Then, he was filled with rage. The Night Fury was taking him for a fool! He unlocked the cage and started to hit Toothless. Toothless woke up and started to defend himself, and even though the dragon was significantly stronger than Sigurd, he didn't leave unscathed. A fresh cut started at the base of his ear and narrowly avoided his right eye. Another was located on his tail. Despite its placing, Toothless didn't seem too hurt. He tried to fight harder, but was stopped once another soldier, set to switch places with Sigurd, came to take his place.

"Get away from him! You've gone mad!" he yelled. "We lose the dragon, we lose the boy!"

"He's taking me for a fool!" Sigurd screamed. The other soldier scoffed.

"How do you expect him to do that? He's a dragon," he told him. "Now go on break." Sigurd sighed and trudged off. It may be his break, but Toothless knew he wouldn't relax.

* * *

From that moment on, Toothless made sure to ruin Sigurd's reputation as an Outcast soldier. He got familiar with the pattern of writing messages to the man he knew as Sigurd, allowing him enough time to run to the first person he saw, and using that time to destroy all evidence. Eventually it got to the point when Alvin intervened and brought Hiccup with him to prove that Toothless was an imbecile.

"Do I really have to go through this with ya?" Alvin growled. "This is ridiculous! A dragon writing to you? Pah!" The other Outcast soldiers bellowed with laughter, and Sigurd became indignant.

"He did, though! I swear it!" Sigurd cried. Alvin sniggered cruelly.

"Well, I've got a little wager for ya, Sigurd. If he writes for us, you are raised by a rank. If he doesn't, you get a nice little month-long tour of the punishment dungeons for lying to me. Agreed?" Alvin grinned, letting his stained, crooked teeth into Sigurd's view.

"Agreed," Sigurd gulped.

"Well, let's test it, eh? Boy, see to this one," Alvin ordered, shoving Hiccup towards Toothless. The ecstatic dragon lavished Hiccup in licks, while Hiccup tried to fight him off, and succeeded, but barely.

"Easy, bud. I want to see if you can write. Alvin is very interested in this," Hiccup told him. Toothless growled.

"What are you telling that dragon, boy?" Alvin growled.

"I can't help it!" Hiccup replied. Leaning towards Toothless' ear, he whispered, "You know what to do."

"Why's he not doing anything?" Alvin growled.

"Dragons learn from mimicking others," Hiccup explained. "If he can really write, then maybe he just needs to watch me." Hiccup started writing the alphabet onto the floor, and Toothless appeared to be copying him. It seemed as if Sigurd's reputation was going to be saved . . . until he saw that Toothless wasn't particularly writing so much as he was just scribbling onto the ground. Other guards began to snicker, while Alvin was enraged. He didn't appreciate being lied to.

"You lying fool! You worthless worm! Savage! Send him to the dungeons!" Alvin roared.

"Yes, sir!" Savage barked, dragging Sigurd away.

"The dragon set me up! He wrote to me, I tell you!" Sigurd howled. Alvin rolled his eyes with disgust as the other Outcasts laughed.

"Whimperin' idiot. Don't know why I ever accepted him," Alvin grumbled. Noticing Toothless looked deliriously happy from being reunited with his human best friend, he yelled, "Don't look so happy, Night Fury! You know what's gonna happen to ya? I'm going to guard your cell meself. I don't know what you got with that sap named Sigurd, but it's going to be nothin' like that with me!"

"But sir, there's still the attack on Berk that has to be planned, and-" Savage was cut off by a glare.

"Did I ask you for your opinion?" he growled. "Get back to what you were doing, the lot o' ya!" The Outcasts scatter in various different directions, and Toothless noticed with dismay that Hiccup was being taken away from him again. Eventually, Alvin and Toothless are left alone together. "I dunno what you thought you were gonna get away with, but it ain't 'appenin'. I know everything you know, and plen'y of things ya don't know. What do you know that I don't, eh, dragon?"

I KNEW THAT SIGURD WAS RIGHT. YOU DIDN'T KNOW THAT.

The scream that echoed out of Outcast Island sounded like it belonged in the deepest depths of Helheim.

* * *

Two days later, the other dragon riders and Stoick stormed Outcast Island . . . to find nobody there. Confused and apprehensive, they tiptoed around the island, heading to where the dungeons and caged dragons were. Of course Alvin would keep Hiccup there, since his dragons were untrained and lashed out. Astrid and Stoick went in to look for Hiccup, but found Toothless and Alvin. Toothless had a few cuts and scrapes, but they seemed to be healing nicely despite no bandages or any medical help. Alvin, however, was a wreck, and the moment he saw Stoick, he forgot all bitterness and hid behind Stoick with terror.

"What's gotten into you, Alvin?" Stoick asked.

"I-it's not me! I swear it!" Alvin screamed. "It's the Night Fury! I had to guard his cell and I saw things. Horrible things, Stoick, like you wouldn't imagine. It'll never leave my mind."

"What happened?" Astrid asked.

"I don't ever want to think about it," Alvin whimpered. Stoick didn't believe that Alvin was really traumatised, and carried on with procedure regardless.

"Where's my son, Alvin?" Stoick hissed. "You will bring him to me immediately."

"Will the Night Fury be with me?" the Outcast leader gulped.

"After the stunt you pulled, I'm not leaving you with him," Stoick replied coldly. "And once you free my son, you'll do the same to all the dragons you've captured."

"Thank Thor! I'll do it, Stoick! Anything but the Night Fury again!" Alvin begged, as he was frog-marched to the cells.

Meanwhile, Astrid had picked the lock to Toothless' cell and freed him, earning herself a grateful lick as he greeted her after time apart. It wasn't long until he saw something awesome - Hiccup emerging from the Outcast cells alive and well (if a little skinnier than normal). Toothless bounded over and smothered him in so many licks, Hiccup almost drowned in dragon saliva (which the twins thought was adorable). As Alvin and Savage were tied up and placed onto Hookfang and Barf and Belch respectively, Stoick turned to Toothless and asked, "What the Thor did you do to him, Toothless?"

ALL I DID WAS LEAVE HIM A LITTLE MESSAGE.

* * *

 _ **Fine!**_ The writing on the wall _ **saga is finally done. No more chapters after this one, I promise.**_


	6. Toothless, Sass Master Supreme

Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, and knowing my luck, I probably never will. All rights go to the author of the books, Cressida Cowell and the company that made the much-loved films and series, Dreamworks. This fanfiction is set in the Dragons: Riders of Berk series.

A/N: Just to clear things up to do with the story you're about to read, **bold** speech is when the dragons are talking, _italics_ are for when the humans are thinking, and **_bold italics_** are when the dragons are thinking. The UNDERLINED WORDS IN ALL CAPS are for Toothless' responses. This chapter is just a couple of short stories of Toothless using his ability to be a total and complete master . . . a sass-master, that is.

* * *

 **The other guy**

Toothless stayed outside the forge, waiting for Hiccup to continue working on yet another tailfin for him, when he saw him close his eyes a few time. Hiccup was sleepy. Wasting no time, he put out the fire in the forge and dragged Hiccup out, not worrying about how he struggled and yelled. "Toothless!" Hiccup snapped, angry at his dragon for stopping him from working. "Why would you do that?"

YOU LOOKED SLEEPY. I DIDN'T WANT YOU TO COLLAPSE AND GET HURT.

"I was perfectly fine!" Hiccup argued. "Just who did you learn this from, anyway?"

I LEARNED IT FROM THE OTHER GUY.

Now Hiccup was confused. As far as he knew, the only people who worked in the forge were him and Gobber, and that was it. But Toothless was talking about a third person here, and his interest was piqued. "Other guy? What other guy? Tell me what he looks like." Hiccup asked. Toothless eagerly began to describe the mysterious 'other guy'.

HE HAS SHORT BROWN HAIR.

"Well, that applies to an awful lot of people here," Hiccup deadpanned. "What else?"

GREEN EYES.

"That narrows it down a little," Hiccup muttered. "Can you give me his height? Is he tall, short?"

HE IS, LIKE THE OLDER VIKINGS SAY, ON THE SHORT SIDE.

"And what sort of skin tone does he have?" Hiccup interrogated.

PALE WITH FRECKLES.

"Who does he usually hang around with? What dragon does he have?"

HE HANGS AROUND WITH HIS GIRLFRIEND A LOT, ASTRID HOFFERSON. AND HE'S THE ONLY ONE IN THE ENTIRE VILLAGE WHO RIDES A NIGHT FURY.

Hiccup stared at the last sentence Toothless had written down, mentally joining the dots and glaring at Toothless. "I can't believe you had the nerve to describe me to myself! Stupid, useless, reptile."

I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU BOUGHT IT.

"And I am not short!" Hiccup yelled, pouting. "This stays between us, understand?"

WHATEVER YOU SAY, YOU LITTLE DORK.

" . . . I'm not a dork, either."

* * *

 **Honest answers about family**

Snotlout was continuing to do what he does best during a dragon training lesson: being a jerk to Hiccup. "Come on Hiccup, you have to see what's wrong with my axe. It won't cut wood for me like it used to, but it doesn't look broken," Snotlout whined. "What's the use of having a cousin who works in a forge making and fixing weapons if he can't fix anything for you when you need him to?"

"But Snotlout, you know I have dragon training lessons to plan and I can't spend all my time in the forge any more," Hiccup tried to explain, before being cut off.

"You have to, fishbone! And you know why? Because we're family, and you can't escape that, no matter how far away your little legs - sorry, _leg_ \- run," Snotlout sneered. "Toothless shouldn't come first for you, I should." That got everyone's attention, and Toothless had a response.

DO FAMILY TREAT EACH OTHER AS BADLY AS YOU TREAT HICCUP OR ARE YOU THE ONLY ONE?

"Oh, shut up, Toothless," the black-haired jerk replied. "Why don't you ask your own family? Oh, wait a minute, you don't have any!" Then Snotlout threw his head back and laughed cruelly, while everyone stared in disgust. Toothless was clearly unimpressed, and wrote back.

YOU'RE WRONG. I HAVE ONE BROTHER THAT YOU NEVER LISTEN TO.

"And who is this family member, then?" Snotlout mocked. "I think I'd notice another Night Fury flying around here."

ACTUALLY, THE BROTHER I WAS TALKING ABOUT WAS THE SAME GUY YOU YELLED AT FOR NOT FIXING YOUR AXE.

"But that's Hiccup," Snotlout pointed out, confused.

MY POINT EXACTLY.

Hiccup had a tiny tear at the corner of his eye and a huge smile on his face. "Thanks, bud," he whispered.

DON'T WORRY. ALL BIG BROTHERS HAVE TO HAVE THEIR LITTLE BROTHER'S BACK.

* * *

 **Meals**

It was a normal day as Hiccup and Stoick ate lunch in silence. This was a regular occurrence for them, since neither liked to talk too much unless they had to. And suddenly, Hiccup had to talk to his dad . . . about why he wasn't supposed to feed Toothless his leftovers under the table. "Dad, you have to stop that!" the brunette told his father.

"Stop what, son?" Stoick asked innocently, trying not to let Hiccup hear the sound of cutlery on plate as he scraped a piece of bacon off his plate.

"Giving Toothless extra food! If you keep this up, he'll get fat!" Hiccup pointed out. An indignant growl came from Toothless.

"I'm not," Stoick denied, just as Toothless spat out a chicken bone.

"Well, that's certainly not a fishbone," Hiccup replied. "Dad, he can't eat your leftovers."

WHY CAN I EAT YOUR LEFTOVERS AND NOT HIS, HICCUP? I'M CONFUSED.

"TOOTHLESS!" Hiccup yelled with frustration, as Stoick split his sides laughing. "No eating leftovers, bud! I don't care whose leftovers they are, just don't eat them!" Hiccup stormed off to his room, while Toothless stayed with Stoick.

"Thanks," the chief whispered. "Here ya go." He picked a rasher of bacon of his son's barely touched plate and tossed it to Toothless, who ate it.

* * *

 ** _Fine, I'll be honest: I'm not sure if_** The writing on the wall ** _will stop here. I might have one more chapter if an idea pops into my head or is suggested to me by a guest or user alike. If you want it to go in a different direction or stop altogether, just PM me about it. Thank you._**

 ** _P.S. Sorry it's so short._**


	7. Dagur's visit

Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, and knowing my luck, I never will. All rights go to the author of the books, Cressida Cowell and the company that made the much-loved films and series, Dreamworks. This fanfiction is set in the Dragons: Riders of Berk series.

A/N: Just to clear things up during the story, **bold** speech is when the dragons are talking, _italics_ are for when the humans are thinking, and _**bold italics**_ are for when the dragons are thinking. The UNDERLINED WORDS IN ALL CAPS are for Toothless' written responses. This idea was suggested in the comments by Captain Spunker. S/he deserves the credit for this not originally planned chapter, so thank him/her/them for the prompt that spiralled out of control to the point of becoming a chapter.

* * *

Today was not going to be a good day for Hiccup. The sun was shining, Terrible Terrors were singing in the rooftops, his leg wasn't giving him morning pains, Toothless had opted to go for a more gentle method to wake him up this morning . . . but that would all be for naught. Why? Because his father and Oswald the Agreeable of the Berserker tribe would be taking all day to sign a single peace treaty, and that would mean Hiccup was stuck with Dagur the Deranged until the adults were done. And he had some very vivid memories of Dagur's earlier visits to Berk . . . and not in a good way.

Also, since the Berserker tribe didn't know about Berk making peace with dragons, all the dragons would have to be hidden from the Berserkers so they didn't come to the conclusion that Berk was harbouring a dragon army to use against them and thus wage war. So Hiccup was tasked with moving an island's worth of dragons from one island to another island for a full day. Oh, goodie.

"Come on, bud," Hiccup sighed, as he got out Toothless' solo flying tailfin to make the journey easier. Toothless pouted, and Hiccup raised an eyebrow at the petulant Night Fury. "I don't like this either, but I don't like the idea of Dagur seeing you and trying to kill you. Please, you'll be fine, Toothless. It will only be until Dagur leaves." Toothless borrowed Hiccup's charcoal to scribble an answer onto the stone slab he slept on.

HOW DO WE GET HIM TO LEAVE FASTER?

Hiccup chuckled. "I wish he'd leave a little faster, too, but I have no say in it. He stays here while my dad and his dad sign the treaty to continue the peace between our tribes. I have no idea why it takes so long. That guy is on the slow road to insanity." Then under his breath, forgetting how powerful Toothless' hearing was, "The longer I have to stay with him, the more chances he gets to attempt to kill me."

The last two sentences echoed in Toothless' head, and the Night Fury had a particularly evil idea. Hiccup didn't seem to like this Dagur person much, and Toothless was certain that if Hiccup didn't like them, then it was for a good reason. This Dagur person had to go, and Toothless figured that he was the perfect reptilian for the job.

 _ **Don't worry, Hiccup, I'll help you,**_ Toothless thought.

* * *

"Come on, bud, you have to go!" Hiccup grunted, as Toothless refused to fly towards Dragon Island and tried to go to the cove, hoping that Hiccup would forget about the nasty Dagur kid and play with him. "Toothless!"

"You think you have problems!" Snotlout grunted, as Hookfang set him on fire . . . for the third time. "Hookfang, for Thor's sake, stop throwing a tantrum! You're behaving like a hatchling!"

 **"Why do we have to leave because of some visitors?"** Hookfang huffed. **"It's not like we did anything!"**

 **"What if our human never comes back for us?"** Barf and Belch whimpered. **"What if they get a new dragon and leave us behind?"**

 **"Of course they will; don't be ridiculous,"** Stormfly huffed. **"If they were going to get a new dragon, they'd have taken your saddles to give to the new dragons!"**

 **"Oh, yeah,"** Barf and Belch muttered.

 **"I'm worried about Hiccup,"** Toothless muttered. **"I heard him say that Dagur was on the slow road to insanity and the longer they stayed together, the more chances Dagur had to kill Hiccup? What if he's injured or dead when we come back and I can't help him?"**

 **"Now I feel bad for complaining about Snotlout,"** Hookfang muttered. **"Wait, they're still here! Let's persuade them not to leave quick!"**

 **"But how?"** Meatlug asked.

 **"Everyone, puppy eyes!"** Hookfang commanded. All the dragons used the infamous "lost puppy" routine at once in a desperate attempt to guilt-trip their owners into either letting them go back to Berk or staying with them. None of the riders were convinced. They knew this trick all too well.

"No time for that, Stormfly!" Astrid huffed, rolling her eyes.

"Seriously, Hookfang? The hatchling eyes? You will not embarrass me with that sentimental stuff!" Snotlout snapped.

"Meatlug, please don't make this harder than it already is," Fishlegs pleaded. "I'll see you later, I promise. Be good!" With that, the gang left Dragon Island. All the dragons that had once been on Berk glared at Hookfang for his failed idea.

 **"Thanks, big guy,"** a disgruntled Terrible Terror muttered. Hookfang aimed a fireball at them, scattering them immediately. Toothless stared at Berk's coastline, worried.

 **"Toothless, what are you going to do?"** Stormfly asked.

 **"I'm making sure Hiccup doesn't get hurt,"** Toothless said. **"And by the end of today, Hiccup is going to really wish he didn't help me with my solo flying."**

 **"But Toothless, you'll get into trouble!"** Meatlug warned.

 **"Only if this Dagur guy sees me, which he won't,"** Toothless replied. Then he flew off, for Berk and, more importantly, Hiccup's safety.

* * *

Meanwhile, on Berk, Hiccup was keeping Dagur occupied with a tour of the village while their respective fathers talked . . . treaty stuff. "And there's the forge, the same as ever," Hiccup pointed out. "And over there's the-"

"This tour is getting boring, Hiccup," Dagur interrupted. "Nothing here ever changes. Let's get on with doing something more . . . physical." Toothless was hiding behind the forge, and he was getting worried about Hiccup. "I know! Axe-throwing!" Hiccup's heart sank.

"Com-competitively?" Hiccup stammered. Dagur boomed with laughter, laying a hand on Hiccup's shoulder.

"No, of course not!" Dagur scoffed. "I take the axes, and I throw them all at you! Your job is to act as a moving target for me! Now, where does that blacksmith guy keep the axes?" Toothless didn't have much time. He had to act before he was seen by the insane boy and before Hiccup got hurt He grabbed the axes and darted behind someone's house, seconds before Dagur ambled over. "Where are they? I could have sworn that a bunch of axes were always kept here."

"There usually are some," Hiccup supplied, feeling incredibly lucky. "I'll help you, if you-"

"Never mind. I want to do something else now. The lack of equipment has spoiled my mood," Dagur announced. "I know! Wrestling!" Hiccup gulped. Dagur would end up beating Hiccup to a pulp, and the brunette knew he couldn't get out of it, or he would look hostile, wimpy, or most likely both. Toothless knew that fearful look on Hiccup's face, and he knew that Dagur needed taking down a peg or two. He quickly wrote a message on the floor before retreating into the forge to hide.

NO WRESTLING FOR YOU TODAY.

Dagur did a double-take at the sudden new writing. "Where did that come from?" Dagur shrieked.

"I don't know," Hiccup lied. He knew exactly where it was from, but he wasn't about to say. That would mean not only admitting that they had dragons, but admitting they had a dragon that was literate. So he had no choice but to lie to the berserk Berserker.

"Didn't you see who wrote it?" Dagur shrieked. Hiccup shook his head. Dagur growled, and Hiccup stepped backwards, away from Dagur. "AARGH! You'd better be joking, Hiccup! Well, we'll have to show this to our fathers! They'll be very worried to hear that someone is watching their heirs and writing eerie messages! Come on!" With that, Hiccup was dragged away to the Great Hall by Dagur.

"Dagur, wait! We can't go in! Our fathers are signing the treaty! We can't interrupt them!" Hiccup's reasoning with Dagur was worse than talking to a brick wall. The Berserker manhandled Hiccup into the Great Hall, interrupting the proceedings of the peace treaty. The assortment of Vikings saw Dagur panting heavily from the journey towards the Great Hall, while Hiccup struggled to get away from him.

"We're being watched! Someone's giving us weird messages!" Dagur yelled.

"Dagur, we have to go!" Hiccup snapped. Oswald the Agreeable looked worried and got up. Stoick got up with him.

"Show me," Stoick commanded. Dagur eagerly led the two chieftains towards the spot where he saw the writing . . . and nothing was there. The writing, once clear as day, was gone without a trace. Dagur sputtered and his mouth opened and closed at the lack of mysterious writing. Stoick and Oswald were not amused.

"Dagur, you do not interrupt sensitive peace talks with nonexistent writing," Stoick scolded.

"But it was right there!" Dagur yelled, looking rather insane. Oswald was utterly mortified.

"You'll have to excuse my son. He can be rather rambunctious," Oswald muttered, before turning to his son. "Dagur, I will let you go with a warning. Do this again, and you will be punished. Are we clear?" Dagur nodded. "Good. Let's go. We're wasting time." The chieftains left the teenagers alone, and Toothless grinned. Dagur wasn't going to leave here with his sanity. But, after taking a good look at the teen, Toothless was pretty sure that he didn't come here with his sanity, either.

* * *

Dagur was thoroughly shaken by the experience and suddenly wanted to stay inside. He figured that whoever was following them around and leaving them weird messages that had a tendency to disappear wouldn't follow him inside. Well, he was wrong. Toothless knew that if he stayed in the rafters of the Mead Hall, he could hide without being seen but would still be able to see everything going on underneath him. He could also hear everything going on underneath him, and what he heard was . . . disturbing, to say the least.

"So, Hiccup, what do you say to that wrestling match?" Dagur proposed. Hiccup did a double-take.

"Don't you remember earlier?" Hiccup asked. Dagur laughed heartily, although that merry laugh soon became a lot less merry and a lot more sinister until it finally faded away into silence.

"Of course I remember earlier, and I'm gonna wrestle you anyway! In fact, I wanna wrestle you even more!" Hiccup gulped. Toothless knew that he had to do something, but didn't know what. Out of his frustration at feeling helpless, Toothless darted over to a secluded spot behind them and knocked over a table and a few chairs before darting up to the rafters again. Dagur bolted out of his seat, reaching for the sword he always kept at his side. This intruder was going to pay! "Who's there?" Toothless fought down laughter. He was ready to fight somebody he couldn't see! Suddenly, he saw a pot of paint that some mutton-headed Viking had left lying around and placed it above a door. He sneaked out of the Mead Hall to write his message to Dagur. Now for the final part of his plan: baiting Dagur out. He thumped the door once, twice, three times with his tail.

"Who is it?" Hiccup called. He was about to get up, but that was when Dagur pushed him down into his seat.

"I'll get it. Whoever it is will pay dearly for interrupting our talk," Dagur snarled, drawing his sword and charging at the door. He was expecting to find an intruder. He actually found a pot of red paint falling from the sky onto his head. "AAAARGH!" Toothless' message was:

I TOLD YOU NOT TO WRESTLE WITH HICCUP. THIS IS YOUR PUNISHMENT.

Dagur stared at the message in awe, which quickly changed to shock and later, pure terror. This was the first time Dagur had felt pure fear of someone. Hiccup finally came out of the Mead Hall, and clapped a hand over his mouth so he didn't immediately burst into laughter. Dagur looked ridiculous, with red paint dripping off his hair and onto his face. It seeped into the gaps in his armour and stained his clothes. Dagur's sanity appeared to have left him at that point.

"FATHER!" Dagur screamed, racing off to the Great Hall in an effort to finally show his father that he was telling the truth. Once he was out of earshot and eyesight, Hiccup's suspicions about the day were confirmed: Toothless swung down from the rafters and started to snuggle him. Hiccup was freaking out about the Night Fury's presence. Toothless wasn't supposed to be there! What if he was seen by a Berserker!

"Toothless, what are you doing?" Hiccup hissed. "You're supposed to be on Dragon Island! Why are you here?"

I HAVE TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU ARE NOT HURT OR KILLED.

"He wasn't going to kill me!"

SURE HE WASN'T.

"Toothless, do you really have to be so-" Without warning, the two heard the door creak. "Hide!" Toothless wiped away the messages and quickly sought refuge in the rafters, and Hiccup picked up the overturned chairs. "Hello, Dad. Hello, sir."

"What are you doing, son?" Stoick asked.

"These chairs and that table were flipped over and I was picking them up," Hiccup replied, as he continued his self-appointed chore. "Could you help me with the table? It's a little too heavy for me."

"Of course, son," Stoick obliged, setting the table down properly with a thud. Oswald looked at his son disappointedly.

"Why can't you be more like that?" Oswald asked. Dagur scowled and turned away from the scene, leaving pinpricks of red paint on the floor when he turned his head.

"I was busy notifying you about the new message that I just saw!" Dagur pointed out, dragging the two tired chieftains outside to where the message once was. Toothless hadn't had the chance to get rid of this particular message, but that wasn't why neither of the men could see it. "It's right there! Don't you see it?"

"All I see is a mess of paint," Oswald pointed out. "Dagur, I am disappointed in you. You have interrupted sensitive peace talks twice today, and over silly things, too. This is not the behaviour I expected you to show."

"But-"

"No buts," Oswald instructed. "I don't want any more funny business, is that clear?" Dagur, defeated, nodded. Oswald took one look at Stoick and the two went back to the Great Hall. They had business to discuss. Dagur went mad after that. He started looking around the Mead Hall, giggling like a deranged person. (Which, I suppose, he was.)

"Where is he? Where is that little sneak that's been leaving messages for me?" Dagur muttered. The 'little sneak' in question was hiding in the rafters, trying not to laugh at the paranoid bully. "Oh, silent watcher! Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Toothless was smart enough to stay put in his convenient, but not too comfortable, hiding spot. Dagur let out a laugh that slowly became whimpers. He collapsed to the floor and rocked back and forth, hugging his knees and staring off into space. Hiccup didn't know what to do. He knew that he couldn't interrupt his father with Oswald, but he didn't trust Dagur to look after himself in this state. He went for the second option of looking after Dagur. Thor knew the boy needed it right now.

* * *

In the Great Hall, Stoick and Oswald had finally finished signing the treaty that kept the Berserkers and Berkians in an uneasy alliance. "I suppose we should see if the boys are still alive," Stoick decided.

"I suppose we should," Oswald agreed (hence the nickname). They went to their last known place, only to find Hiccup trying to get Dagur to drink a cup of water.

"Come on, you need to have something," Hiccup pleaded. Oswald strode into the room to collect his son, and Dagur ran towards him, blubbering like a baby.

"Get me out of here! There are weird messages and paint and the messages disappear and it's scaring me, Daddy!" Dagur babbled, sobbing onto his father's tunic. Oswald, utterly humiliated, led his son to the docks with Stoick and Hiccup seeing him off for the sake of courtesy.

"Good day, Stoick and Hiccup," Oswald said curtly as he boarded one of his ships and ordered his armada to sail away. Toothless came out of his hiding space and waved the brutish baby goodbye, having the nerve to do so right next to the chief and Hiccup, which surprised Stoick a little. Dagur saw Toothless' outline and freaked out.

"Daddy! I just saw a big black shadow grin at me! It was on Berk next to Hiccup and his father!" Dagur babbled.

"Oh, shut up," Oswald muttered.

* * *

Obviously, after being seen by Stoick, Toothless would have to explain himself and what he was doing on Berk. It took a while, but eventually, they got the whole story out of him. "So let's get this straight," Stoick sighed. "You heard that Hiccup might be in trouble if he was left alone with Dagur, so you flew back here and left messages for him to find, then got rid of them before either I or Oswald saw them, left paint above the door for him to be covered in, and slowly drove him to the point of insanity over the course of a day?" Toothless nodded. "Toothless, I thought you couldn't fly without Hiccup? So how did you get here? Did you swim?"

HICCUP BUILT ME A NEW TAILFIN MEANT FOR SOLO FLIGHTS.

"Toothless, you do know that you were never meant to be here, right?" Stoick asked. Toothless nodded. "And you deliberately disobeyed direct orders anyway. Why?"

I THOUGHT HICCUP WOULD BE HURT IF LEFT ALONE WITH DAGUR, AND I WAS RIGHT. WHEN HICCUP TRIED TAKING DAGUR ON A TOUR OF BERK TO SHOW HIM WHERE EVERYTHING WAS, DAGUR ATTEMPTED TO BETTER HIS AXE THROWING SKILLS BY USING HICCUP AS A MOVING TARGET. I MOVED THE AXES FROM THE FORGE BEFORE HE COULD GET TO THEM.

"That was you?" Hiccup spluttered. "I thought Gobber put them in the armoury or took them home or something!"

I'VE SEEN GOBBER WORK LONG ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT HE KEEPS UNFINISHED WEAPONS IN THE FORGE SO HE DOESN'T HAVE TO LOOK FOR THEM. YOU'VE BEEN WORKING WITH HIM FOR A LONG TIME, SO YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY KNOW THIS.

"Oh, yeah. I knew that," Hiccup muttered, blushing a dark shade of red.

THEN DAGUR TRIED TO WRESTLE HICCUP, SO I FOLLOWED THEM INTO THE MEAD HALL TO WATCH THEM AND DISTRACTED HIM BY KNOCKING OVER A TABLE SO HE WENT TO SEARCH FOR AN INTRUDER. THEN I LEFT A BUCKET OF PAINT ABOVE THE DOOR, LEFT A MESSAGE FOR HIM TO FIND, THUMPED IT WITH MY TAIL AND WAITED FOR HIM TO ANSWER IT.

"Toothless, you seriously did that?" Hiccup spluttered. "You could have been seen! Dagur might have tried to hunt you, or he might have even killed you! And you did this because you thought I'd get hurt? This was reckless, irresponsible and . . . and . . . oh, who am I kidding, this is awesome!" Hiccup hugged Toothless hard, and Toothless hugged him back. Stoick pinched the bridge of his nose. Hiccup had a lot to learn. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! Oh, you are amazing!" Toothless cooed happily before near-drowning Hiccup in licks and snuggles. "And then you do . . . that. Seriously, bud?" Toothless laughed at him as he wiped the drool off his face. "But still, thank you for messing with Dagur."

"Speaking of messing with Dagur, I still haven't gotten to the consequences for that," Stoick interrupted. "Toothless, I sentence you to a curfew, where you will be confined to the arena from sunset to sunrise for no less and no more than two weeks. That's an order, Toothless, and I will be making sure that you don't disobey it." Toothless nodded, letting out a sigh. Hiccup felt like he had to comfort his friend. It was him that he broke the rules for, after all.

"Shhh, it'll be OK," Hiccup soothed quietly, quietly so nobody but he and Toothless heard. "It's only for two weeks, and the other dragons like you there. It won't be too bad for you." Then, in a more teasing tone, he whispered. "I bet they like rule breakers like you. They'll probably think you're cool and will let you do whatever you want."

* * *

Hiccup happened to be, for once, woefully inaccurate about the behaviour of the other dragons. On that first night locked into the arena, Toothless was being held tightly in Hookfang's wings while he used his tail and claws to tickle the ever-loving Thor out of the disobedient dragon. **"Honestly, we can't leave you alone for one minute, can we?"** Hookfang asked, as he traced Toothless' ribs. **"You are such a troublemaker it's insane. Sneaking out of Dragon Island! Leaving messages for people to find! Placing a pot of paint on top of a door and letting it fall on someone! Sending Dagur mad! Those Vikings are lucky someone here knows how to deal with you."**

 **"GAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"** Toothless howled. **"NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO! PLEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEASE!"**

 **"Oh, Toothless, I know this isn't your fault; you're always a little cranky when you're missing a few ribs,"** Hookfang cooed. **"You must be acting out like this because your ribs are disappearing. Maybe it's a Night Fury thing. Anyway, I'll check now."** Toothless' senses were flooded by a sense of ticklish overload, and the poor Night Fury collapsed into fits of laughter as his ribs were checked over one by one. Hookfang grinned sadistically as he snuggled closely into the obsidian dragon's sensitive, scaly flesh. The red Monstrous Nightmare fought back laughter of his own as he checked on Toothless' ribcage. Eventually, he came to a conclusion.

 **"WHY AHAHAHAHAHAHARE YOU DOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOING THIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIS?"** Toothless asked, as he struggled futilely to get away from Hookfang's grasp. This was torturous to him, and he already thought that he couldn't take any more. But he knew that he would have to. Hookfang was ruthless with him, and it was always worse when he misbehaved.

 **"Just checking you over, and . . . done!"** Hookfang remarked. **"So, you're not missing any ribs after all! You know what that means?"**

 **". . . No,"** Toothless panted, catching his breath.

 **"It means that you weren't sick and you broke the rules because you wanted to,"** Hookfang growled. Toothless gulped. He was so done for. He found that out a few seconds later, Hookfang had gone back to wrapping Toothless up in his wings while he made sure that he got plenty of ticklish raspberries. **"Oh, I'll teach you a lesson, you little rebel, and I'll teach you this lesson for as long as we're both in here. I guess you'll have to get used to this."** Then Hookfang leaned down to give Toothless, a long, hysterical raspberry. **"PFFFFFFT!"**

 **"YAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!"** Toothless howled, blushing underneath his scales.

 **"We're not done yet, Toothless,"** Hookfang smiled. **"You're still a very bad hatchling, and I still need to check if there are other body parts that are sensitive."** That was when Toothless noticed that Hookfang had his eyes on his wings . . . which darted towards his back feet every once in a while. The once cocky Night Fury whimpered, backing into a wall in hopes that Hookfang would leave him alone. Those hopes were soon dashed.

 **"BWAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"**

Two Terrible Terrors were taking a twilight tour of Berk when they heard Toothless' hysterical screams of laughter. At this point, all the dragons knew what was going on with Toothless and word of his curfew was travelling fast. **"What did he do now?"** one Terrible Terror asked his friend.

 **"Snuck out of the island, messed with the humans, you know the like. Hookfang likes messing with him afterwards. Says it's his punishment."**

 **"Judging by all the squirming, he probably hates it. Poor guy."**

 **"I wouldn't say that if I were you, you know."**

 **"Why's that?"**

 **"His tail's wagging, silly! Make no mistake, he loves this!"**


End file.
